1778 - U.S. General George Washington's troops finally left Valley Forge
after a winter of training.
1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation
Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.
1864 - The USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama off of Cherbourg, France.
1865 - The emancipation of slaves was proclaimed in Texas.
1910 - The first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.
1912 - The U.S. government established the 8-hour work day.
1917 - During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal
family to dispense with German titles and surnames.
1934 - The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration was
established.
1934 - The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC). The commission was to regulate radio and TV
broadcasting (later).
1942 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington,
DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President
Roosevelt.
1943 - Henry Kissinger became a naturalized United States citizen.
1944 - The U.S. won the battle of the Philippine Sea against the
Imperial Japanese fleet.
1951 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military
Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1,
1955 and lowered the draft age to 18.
1952 - "I've Got a Secret" debuted on CBS-TV.
1958 - In Washington, DC, nine entertainers refused to answer a
congressional committee's questions on communism.
1961 - Kuwait regained complete independence from Britain.
1961 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's
constitution that required state officeholders to profess a belief in
God.
1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an
83-day filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
1965 - Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky became South Vietnam's youngest
premier at age 34.
1968 - 50,000 people marched on Washington, DC. to support the Poor
People's Campaign.
1973 - The Case-Church Amendment prevented further U.S. involvement in
Southeast Asia.
1973 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) got his 2,000th career hit.
1973 - The stage production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" opened in
London.
1973 - Gordie Howe left the NHL to join his sons Mark and Marty in the
WHA (World Hockey League).
1978 - Garfield was in newspapers around the U.S. for the first time.
1981 - "Superman II" set the all-time, one-day record for theater
box-office receipts when it took in $5.5 million.
1981 - The European Space Agency sent two satellites into orbit from
Kourou, French Guiana.
1983 - Lixian-nian was chosen to be China's first president since 1969.
1987 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Louisiana law that
required that schools teach creationism.
1989 - The movie "Batman" premiered.
1997 - William Hague became the youngest leader of Britain's
Conservative party in nearly 200 years.
1998 - Gateway was fined more than $400,000 for illegally shipping
personal computers to 16 countries subject to U.S. export controls.
1998 - A study released said that smoking more than doubles risks of
developing dementia and Alzheimer's.
1998 - Switzerland's three largest banks offered $600 million to settle
claims they'd stolen the assets of Holocaust victims during World War
II. Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low.
1999 - Stephen King was struck from behind by a mini-van while walking
along a road in Maine.
1999 - The Dallas Stars won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the
Buffalo Sabres in the third overtime of game six.
2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a group prayer led by students
at public-school football games violated the 1st Amendment's principle
that called for the separation of church and state.
2007 - A truck bomb struck a Shiite mosque in central Baghdad, killing
at least 87 people.
2008 - Democrat Barack Obama announced he would bypass public financing
for the presidential election, even though Republican John McCain was
accepting it.

World News

Poroshenko Offers Tony Blair a Job
Sputnik News - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko can't seem to get
enough of foreign advisors telling his government how to carry out
reforms, this time offering former British Prime Minister Tony Blair a
job in his International Advisory Council for Reforms… the former prime
minister had been invited "to share his experience of public
administration" within the council, headed by corruption-mired former
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has since moved on to become
governor of the Odessa Region… US Senator John McCain was also offered a
seat in the council, but said he couldn't accept due to constitutional
regulations.

Greece faces banking crisis after eurozone meeting breaks down
The Guardian - Greece is facing a full-blown banking crisis after a
meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke down in acrimony and
recrimination on Thursday evening, bringing the prospect of Greek exit
from the eurozone a step nearer. Some €2bn of deposits have been
withdrawn from Greek banks so far this week – including a record €1bn
yesterday – triggering fears that a breakdown in talks would spark a
further flight of funds. The German leader Angela Merkel, French
president François Hollande and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras
agreed to stage an emergency EU summit on Monday as a last critical
attempt to prevent Greece going bankrupt. A representative of the
European Central Bank told the meeting it was unsure whether Greek banks
would have the funds to be able to open on Monday. Related:
Greece could be forced to lock down savers’ cash as debt crisis worsens

Iceland Still Ranked World’s most Peaceful Nation: United States Inches
up to 94th
AllGov - The Nordic island nation was designated the most peaceful
nation on earth, according to the Institute for Economics & Peace’s
latest Global Peace Index. Apparently there’s something about the Nordic
countries that makes them prone to outbreaks of peace. Denmark was
ranked second and Finland No. 6. The other two Nordic nations, Sweden
and Norway, placed were No. 13 and 17, respectively. The United States
was way down on the Global Peace Index, placing at No. 94, but a
definite improvement from last year’s 101. Part of the improvement came
from the partial withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and U.S. efforts
to secure a nuclear deal with Iran. Canada placed seventh on the global
list.

Ukraine’s National Guard, California National Guard Agree on Cooperation
Sputnik News - Commanding officers of Ukraine’s National Guard held a
meeting in Kiev with their colleagues from the California National
Guard, the press office of the Ukrainian entity reported. "A working
meeting took place at the headquarters of the Ukrainian National Guard.
A range of specific issues on cooperation were on the agenda.
Representatives of the US delegation expressed hope for conducting joint
exercises in the near future," the report read.

Anti-Russian Sanctions Can Cost EU Up to $114 Billion - Austrian Study
Sputnik News - The European Union could lose up to €100 billion ($114
billion) due to the anti-Russian sanctions if things remain unchanged, a
study by the Austrian Institute of Economic Research revealed Friday....
“If the situation does not change fundamentally, our most pessimistic
scenario will come true,” one of the research authors Oliver Fritz was
quoted as saying by Die Welt. According to the calculations, current
political situation can also affect over 2 million EU jobs because of
the declining exports.

China Offers Food Aid to North Korea Suffering Worst Drought in a
Century
Sputnik News - China expressed its willingness to provide food to North
Korea after Pyongyang revealed that the country plagued by food
shortages was suffering from a severe drought unseen for a century. The
United States refused to help.... The United States has declined to
offer assistance to North Korea. Earlier this week, US State Department
spokesman John Kirby said that he had no "specific information about the
validity of the drought" and was not aware of any US plans to provide
food assistance, according to Yonhap.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Pentagon Building Cruise Missile Shield To Defend US Cities From
Russia
Defense One - The Pentagon is quietly working to set up an
elaborate network of defenses to protect American cities from a
barrage of Russian cruise missiles. The plan calls for buying
radars that would enable National Guard F-16 fighter jets to
spot and shoot down fast and low-flying missiles. Top generals
want to network those radars with sensor-laden aerostat balloons
hovering over U.S. cities and with coastal warships equipped
with sensors and interceptor missiles of their own. One of those
generals is Adm. William Gortney, who leads U.S. Northern
Command, or NORTHCOM, and North American Aerospace Defense
Command, or NORAD. Earlier this year, Gortney submitted an
“urgent need” request to put those new radars on the F-16s that
patrol the airspace around Washington. Such a request allows a
project to circumvent the normal procurement process.

John Kerry ''Compiling'' More Lies Against Syria
Brandon Turbeville - Despite the fact that both John Kerry and
the US State Department have been repeatedly disproven over
their claims that the Syrian government is using chemical
weapons against civilians and terrorists in Syria, John Kerry
appeared via video from Boston to announce that he has proof
that the Syrian government has done just that. He also indicated
that the US government is “compiling” that evidence to be
presented at a later date. “I am absolutely certain, we are
certain that the preponderance of those attacks have been
carried out by the regime,” Kerry said. He also claimed that “It
has been significantly documented; it’s dropped from airplane.
The opposition isn’t flying airplanes or helicopters.”

VIDEO: House approves fast-track 218-208, sending bill to Senate
The Hill - The House on Thursday took the first step toward
resuscitating the White House’s trade agenda by passing
legislation granting President Obama fast-track authority. The
bill now goes to the Senate, where the White House and GOP
leaders are seeking to strike a deal with pro-trade Democrats.
The House vote was 218-208, with 28 Democrats voting for it.
This is the second time in a week the House has voted to approve
the controversial fast-track bill. On Friday, the House voted
219-211 in favor of fast-track, which would make it easier for
Obama to complete a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal.

Charleston Shooter Was on Drug Linked to Violent Outbursts
Paul Joseph Watson - Charleston shooter Dylann Storm Roof was
reportedly taking a drug that has been linked with sudden
outbursts of violence, fitting the pattern of innumerable other
mass shooters who were on or had recently come off
pharmaceutical drugs linked to aggression. According to a CBS
News report, earlier this year when cops searched Roof after he
was acting suspiciously inside a Bath and Body Works store, they
found “orange strips” that Roof told officers was suboxone, a
narcotic that is used to treat opiate addiction. Suboxone is a
habit-forming drug that has been connected with sudden outbursts
of aggression.
Related: Charleston Shooting: What They’re Not Telling You

Army lab lacked effective anthrax-killing procedures for 10
years
USA Today - The U.S. Army research facility that has mistakenly
shipped live anthrax to unsuspecting labs in the U.S. and abroad
for more than 10 years failed to have effective and standardized
procedures for killing the deadly bacteria with radiation,
according to a federal investigation report... The report, dated
June 5, cites the Dugway Proving Ground's Life Science Test
Facility in Utah with three violations of federal regulations
for working with potential bioterror agents and orders the
facility to immediately cease all shipments of "inactivated"
anthrax specimens.

2,666,000 Words: FDA Rules are Twice the Length of the Bible
CNS News - Since President Barack Obama took office on Jan. 20,
2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued 545 new
final regulations, equaling 2,666 pages in the Federal Register
and totaling approximately 2,666,000 words, according to a count
of the regulations published in the Federal Register. The
Gutenberg Bible is only 1,282 pages and 646,128 words.

Dylann Roof Could Not Legally Carry a Firearm
Truth Revolt - Many in the media and political spheres, including
President Barack Obama, have used Wednesday’s tragic mass-shooting at
Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina to push for further restrictions on
gun ownership. But radio host and Second Amendment warrior Dana Loesch
has revealed that under current South Carolina law, shooter Dylann Roof
was already ineligible to purchase or carry a firearm due to a previous
felony conviction and would have failed a background check.

Election News

Rand Paul To Unveil Plan To Replace IRS Tax Code With ‘Fair and
Flat Tax’
Truth in Media - GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
announced that he will release a plan to repeal the entire IRS
tax code, making more than $2 trillion in tax cuts and replacing
the code with “The Fair and Flat Tax” of 14.5 percent on
individuals and businesses. In an editorial for the Wall Street
Journal, Paul claimed that his plan will repeal the more than
70,000 pages that make up the Internal Revenue Service’s tax
code and “eliminate nearly every special-interest loophole.”
Paul wrote that although President Obama has talked about
“middle-class economics,” his policies have “led to rising
income inequality and negative income gains for families.” In
contrast, Paul proposes that his plan would help the middle
class by eliminating “the payroll tax on workers and several
federal taxes outright, including gift and estate taxes,
telephone taxes, and all duties and tariffs.”

Veteran News

Decades On, US Will Pay Millions to Vietnam Vets Exposed to
Agent Orange
Sputnik News - Forty years after the end of the Vietnam War,
American veterans are still feeling the effects. But on
Thursday, the US government agreed to increase spending on a
long-standing health concern, authorizing benefits to American
veterans exposed to Agent Orange.... Health defects associated
with Agent Orange include increased risks of cancer, nerve and
respiratory disorders, leukemia, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. While
Veterans Affairs has addressed the problem for ground troops
exposed to the chemical, it has never recognized the need to
treat the airmen involved in releasing the agent. But on
Thursday, the White House Office of Management and Budget
announced it would spend $47.5 million over the next 10 years on
disability claims for 2,100 Air Force reservists.

The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry's Covert Agenda (Full
Documentary)
This documentary shows how the army is exploited as Psychiatry's
testing ground for drugs and other inhumane "treatment" which
have resulted in exponential growth of military suicides.
Currently, more US soldiers die from suicide than from combat.
"The battlefield is safer than psychiatry. You understand that?
Statistically you are less likely to be shot by an enemy than to
be killed by a pharmaceutical drug. That's the truth about
psychiatry." —Mike Adams...

Economy & Business

Number of American McDonald's Locations to Shrink for 1st Time
in Decades
ABC News - You may be seeing fewer of those "Golden Arches" as
the number of McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. is shrinking as
the company's sales sag. The world's biggest burger chain
expects to close more of its restaurants than it opens
domestically, which hasn't happened since at least 1970, the
Associated Press reported. In April, the company announced the
closure of 350 restaurants in the U.S, while it plans to add 300
globally. In the U.S., the chain has about 14,300 locations out
of about 36,000 locations in 100 countries.

Energy & Environment

US mid-continent seismicity linked to high-rate injection wells:
Earthquake numbers skyrocket ScienceDaily - The number of
earthquakes associated with injection wells has skyrocketed from
a handful per year in the 1970s to more than 650 in 2014,
according to CU-Boulder doctoral student Matthew Weingarten, who
led the study. The increase included several damaging quakes in
2011 and 2012 ranging between magnitudes 4.7 and 5.6 in Prague,
Oklahoma; Trinidad, Colorado; Timpson, Texas; and Guy, Arkansas.
"This is the first study to look at correlations between
injection wells and earthquakes on a broad, nearly national
scale," said Weingarten of CU-Boulder's geological sciences
department. "We saw an enormous increase in earthquakes
associated with these high-rate injection wells, especially
since 2009, and we think the evidence is convincing that the
earthquakes we are seeing near injection sites are induced by
oil and gas activity."

Science & Technology

Russia calls investigation into whether US moon landings
happened
The Independent - According to a translation by the Moscow
Times, Markin would support an inquiry into the disappearance of
original footage from the first moon landing in 1969 and the
whereabouts of lunar rock, which was brought back to Earth
during several missions. “We are not contending that they did
not fly [to the moon], and simply made a film about it. But all
of these scientific — or perhaps cultural — artifacts are part
of the legacy of humanity, and their disappearance without a
trace is our common loss. An investigation will reveal what
happened,” Markin wrote, according to the Moscow Times
translation.

Retailers want to be able to scan your face without your
permission
Ars Technica - After more than a year of discussions, all nine
privacy advocates have stormed out of a government-organized
“multi-stakeholder process” to sort out details around the best
practices for facial recognition technology. The sticking point
was that corporations apparently refused to concede that there
was any scenario during which a person’s consent to scan their
face was needed… Alvaro Bedoya, one of the nine participating
advocates and a law professor at Georgetown University, told Ars.
“Not a single trade association or company would agree with that
premise. That’s remarkable. Google is opt-in on facial
recognition, Microsoft is opt-in on facial recognition, Facebook
isn’t, but they’ve gotten sued and also had to turn it off in
Europe…”

Google and Levi's Are Weaving Computers Into Your Clothes
Popular Science - Project Jacquard is an effort to invisibly
incorporate computers into objects, materials, and clothing.
Everyday items such as sweaters, jackets, and furniture will be
turned into interactive surfaces that can be used as trackpads,
buttons and more. The objects will receive information directly
from the surface of the material used to build them, eliminating
the need for bulky plastic or metal parts. The objects will then
transmit information to a nearby smartphone or computer using
low-powered Wi-Fi.

Health

Maine Takes Step Towards Medical Tyranny on Forced Vaccines
Health Impact News - The Maine House of Representatives approved
a bill to restrict parental choice in vaccine exemptions this
week. It is now up to the Governor of Maine to either sign the
bill, or veto it. The bill requires parents opting out of
required vaccinations on philosophic grounds to consult with and
have a form signed by a medical professional before being
permitted to forego vaccinations required for school. The 93-53
vote included all Democrats but one, as well as 12 Republicans,
voting in favor. But the tally fell short of the 101 votes
needed to override a veto by Gov. Paul LePage, should he choose
to veto it.

Reduce Cancer By Over 40 Percent By Consuming Raw Garlic Just
Two Times Per Week
Marco Torres - Compounds within garlic produce reactive oxygen
species in cancer cells, activating of multiple death cascades
and blocking pathways of tumor proliferation. Eating garlic just
twice per week reduces cancer risk without any side effects
whatsoever. The reason so many people die with conventional
cancer treatment is that while damaging healthy cells,
chemotherapy also triggers them to secrete a protein that
sustains tumour growth and resistance to further treatment. On
the other hand, garlic's allyl sulfur compound preferentially
suppress neoplastic over non-neoplastic cells. Garlic is also
100 times more effective than two popular antibiotics at
fighting disease causing bacteria commonly responsible for
foodborne illness. Related: Garlic From China: A Not So Happy
Story

UV Natural Protection: 5 Non-Toxic Natural oils That Act As A
Sunscreen Layer
Natural News Blogs - These oils are not meant to screen out the
majority of the sun’s rays, and probably shouldn’t be considered
as an all-day, intense sunlight protection for prolonged periods
in the sun, they certainly can provide a level of protection
without all the other unwanted ingredients for reasonable
periods of time in the sun. Further, they will allow some of the
sun’s rays to reach your skin so that you may manufacture the
all too important vitamin D. They have another bonus too, many
of them will leave you with baby soft, healthy skin – and most
also contain other skin-friendly vitamins, fatty acids and other
nutrients and antioxidants.

Pet News

10 Symptoms That You Should Never, Ever Ignore
Dr. Becker - Sometimes when your pet is acting a little "off," you can
take a wait-and-see approach. But if you notice any of these 10
symptoms, it's a different story. Failing to act promptly can mean
blindness, or even death in many of these situations.

Thursday
- June 18, 2015 - Today in History:

1778 - Britain evacuated Philadelphia during the U.S. Revolutionary War.
1812 - The War of 1812 began as the U.S. declared war against Great
Britain. The conflict began over trade restrictions.
1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated by an
international army under the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicated on
June 22.
1873 - Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote for a U.S.
President.
1898 - Atlantic City, NJ, opened its Steel Pier.
1915 - During World War I, the second battle of Artois ended.
1918 - Allied forces on the Western Front began their largest
counter-attack against the German army. (World War I)
1927 - The U.S. Post Office offered a special 10-cent postage stamp for
sale. The stamp was of Charles Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis."
1928 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic
Ocean as she completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales.
1936 - The first bicycle traffic court was established in Racine, WI.
1959 - A Federal Court annulled the Arkansas law allowing school
closings to prevent integration.
1959 - The first telecast received from England was broadcast in the
U.S. over NBC-TV.
1961 - "Gunsmoke" was broadcast for the last time on CBS radio.
1979 - In Vienna, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed
the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) 2.
1982 - The U.S. Senate approved the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights
Act for an additional twenty-five years.
1983 - Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard
the space shuttle Challenger.
2009 - Greenland assumed control over its law enforcement, judicial
affairs, and natural resources from the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenlandic
became the official language.

World News

Russia May Expand Countermeasures If EU Decides to Extend Sanctions
Sputnik News - Russia may expand countermeasures in response if the
European Union decides to extend economic sanctions against the country,
Russian Presidential Aide Andrei Belousov said Thursday.... On
Wednesday, a source close to the EU leadership told RIA Novosti, that a
formal decision on extending European Union sanctions against Russia
until the end of January 2016 will be made when the bloc’s foreign
ministers meet next week. The West has imposed several rounds of
economic sanctions on Russia, accusing Moscow of fueling the internal
Ukrainian conflict. The sanctions target Russia's banking, energy and
defense sectors, as well as certain individuals.

Humanitarian Convoy With Russian, Cyprian Aid Departs for Donbass
Sputnik News - Russia’s 30th humanitarian convoy for residents of
southeastern Ukraine (Donbass) has left the Rostov Region and is headed
for Donetsk and Lugansk with over 1,000 tonnes of Russian and 12 tonnes
of Cyprian aid.... The convoy consists of over 100 vehicles with more
than 1,000 metric tons of aid, including food (flour, grains, pasta,
vegetable oil), medicine and items of first necessity. The convoy also
includes 12 metric tons of aid gathered by social and volunteer
organizations in Cyprus. Overall, Russia has sent more than 37,000
metric tons of aid to Donbass since August 2014.

Humanitarian Ceasefire to Be Called in Yemen in Next Few Hours
Sputnik News - UN spokesman in Geneva Ahmad Fawzi said that all Yemeni
parties involved in the first round of Geneva consultations have agreed
to request a humanitarian truce in Yemen during the month of Ramadan.
All Yemeni parties involved in the first round of Geneva consultations
have agreed to request a humanitarian truce in Yemen during the month of
Ramadan, UN spokesman in Geneva Ahmad Fawzi told Sputnik on Thursday.

Greeks Refuse to Pay Debt, Declare It “Illegal, Illegitimate, and
Odious”
Kurt Nimmo - A committee formed by the speaker of the Greek parliament
and Syriza member, Zoi Konstantopoulou, has released a report stating
that the debt the IMF and the Europeans insist the people of Greece owe
to the bankers is “illegal, illegitimate and odious.” Here is the
conclusion from the report: All the evidence we present in this report
shows that Greece not only does not have the ability to pay this debt,
but also should not pay this debt first and foremost because the debt
emerging from the Troika’s arrangements is a direct infringement on the
fundamental human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to
the conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is
illegal, illegitimate, and odious. The debt payment is due in two weeks.

Scotland To Issue Vaccine ID Card To Monitor Parents Who Refuse
Vaccinations
GovtSlaves - It will work alongside the controversial Named Person
scheme, allowing health workers to “monitor” youngsters at the click of
a button and flagging up parents who refuse vaccinations. The network
will join with another upgraded NHS database containing the medical
records of everybody north of the Border, known as the Community Health
Index (CHI). Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie called for a
parliamentary debate on the plans, saying they would “fuel concerns”
Scotland is moving closer to ID cards.

France Bans Sale of Monsanto Herbicide Roundup in Garden Centers
Health Impact News - French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal announced
today a ban on the sale of popular weedkiller Roundup from garden
centres, which the UN has warned may be carcinogenic. The active
ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, was in March classified as "probably
carcinogenic to humans" by the UN's International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC).... Her announcement comes after French consumer
association CLCV asked French and European officials to stop selling
glyphosate-based products to amateur gardeners.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

McCain Calls Not Arming Ukraine 'Shameful Chapter' in US History
Sputnik News - Former presidential candidate John McCain
revealed what he believes to be most shameful chapter of his
country’s history. Is it the invasion of Iraq, might you ask? Or
using chemical weapons in Vietnam? Or dropping atomic bombs on
Japan? The answer is none of those. Senator McCain mostly
regrets not starting yet another war – this time, in Ukraine. In
a bizarre attempt to reinterpret history, US Senator John McCain
said that the US not providing Ukraine with weapons for its
armed conflict is "one of the most shameful chapters in American
history."

You’ve Been Warned – Calls for Mandatory “National Service” for
Americans Aged 18-28 Has Begun
Liberty Blitzkrieg - This is one of the most important articles
I will write all year. The statists are coming for your kids,
and the conditioning has already begun. Last night, I came
across one of the most horrifying articles I have ever read,
which is saying a lot. Before I get into it, take a look at the
title and the tagline: How to Defeat ISIS With Millennial Spirit
and Service If you think the title is bad, wait until you read
the article. What becomes evident is that this grotesque concept
of forced “national service” is being actively discussed at the
highest levels of government. What Ron Fournier is doing in his
National Journal article is conditioning the public to accept
something that is completely unacceptable.

Charleston Shooting: Liberals Call for Disarming All White
People
Paul Joseph Watson - Liberals reacted to the tragic shooting at
an Episcopal Church in Charleston last night by calling for an
immediate gun ban in order to disarm all white people. Police
are still on the hunt for a 21-year-old slender, clean shaven
white suspect who opened fire on a bible study group at the
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killing nine people
before fleeing the scene. One of the victims included Rev
Clementa Pickney, a state senator and pastor. The incident is
already being exploited by liberals to push their twin agendas
of gun control and racial division, with many advocating that a
total gun ban targeting only white people be immediately
enacted.

U.S. House defeats bid to withdraw troops from Iraq
Reuters - The House voted 288-139 to defeat the concurrent
resolution, which would have required Obama to remove the troops
within 30 days, or by the end of 2015 if the administration
determined it was not safe to do so within the 30-day
timeframe.... The resolution was introduced by Democratic
Representatives Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Barbara Lee of
California and Republican Representative Walter Jones of North
Carolina. The lawmakers said they hoped their introduction of
the measure, allowed under the War Powers Authority, would lead
to a broader debate on a formal authorization for the use of
military force for the campaign against Islamic State fighters
in Iraq and Syria.

U.S. House moves to revive Obama's Pacific trade pact
Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives plans to bring
legislation central to President Barack Obama's Pacific Rim
trade agreement back to the floor for debate on Thursday, giving
lawmakers a chance to deal with it in a different format.... The
House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved the rules for the
debate. This time, the fast-track bill would be taken up on its
own, not paired with another measure to renew an expiring aid
program for workers who lose their jobs due to trade deals.

Sessions: Fast Track Would Lead to 3 Pacts Encompassing 90% of
World GDP
Weekly Standard - Senator Jeff Sessions is worried that the
adoption of the Trans-Pacific Partnership would lead to an
"historic international regulatory Commission" that would
encompass 90 percent of the world's GDP.... "It is essential
that there be no misunderstanding: fast-track preapproves the
formation of not only the unprecedentedly large Trans-Pacific
Partnership, but an unlimited number of such agreements over the
next six years.... After TPP comes the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the
European Union, followed by the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA),
seeking as one its goals labor mobility among more than 50
nations. Together, these three international compacts encompass
three-fourths of the world’s GDP. Including the nations whose
membership is being courted for after enactment, the countries
involved would encompass nearly 90 percent of global GDP.

Almost $3 billion in Obamacare subsidies unaccounted for in CMS
audit
Personal Liberty - A new report from the Office of Inspector
General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services
reveals that $2.8 billion in Obamacare subsidies may have been
awarded to the wrong people — and for the wrong amount of money.
According to the audit summary, the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) lacked internal controls to “effectively
ensure the accuracy of nearly $2.8 billion in aggregate
financial assistance payments made to insurance companies under
the Affordable Care Act during the first four months that these
payments were made.”

Shooting at Charleston, South Carolina, church leaves at least
eight people dead, several injured
(WTVD) - Police are on the scene of a mass shooting at a
historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. It happened
around 9 p.m. Wednesday around the Emanuel AME Church. Sources
told ABC News that at least eight people are dead, and several
are injured. Emanuel AME Church is one of the largest, oldest
black congregations in the South.... At last report, the gunman
was still on the loose and a manhunt is underway on the ground
and in the air around downtown Charleston.

Deportable Violent Sex Offenders Can Go Free when Home Country
Refuses to Take Them
AllGov - Hundreds of immigrants convicted of violent sex crimes
have been allowed to go free in the United States because their
home country has refused to take them back. An investigation by
the Boston Globe revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) tried unsuccessfully to deport 424 immigrants who had been
convicted of sex-related offenses from 2008 to 2012. But once
these individuals’ home countries refused to accept their
deportation, ICE had no other recourse than to let them go. The
424 included convicted rapists, child molesters, and kidnappers.
The newspaper also found that ICE failed to track these
criminals after releasing them, or to ensure that they
registered themselves as sex offenders.

Crohn’s disease sufferer Shona Banda who uses medical marijuana
faces up to 30 years in prison
Truth in Media - As cannabis oil activist and Crohn's disease
patient Shona Banda, who lost custody of her son and is facing
over 30 years in prison after her son spoke out about her
cannabis oil treatment during a school anti-drug presentation,
surrendered herself to authorities, her attorney Sarah Swain
said at a press conference that she intends to challenge
cannabis' classification as a hardcore Schedule 1 narcotic with
no medical use as a part of her defense of Banda and that she
will take her case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

You Can Now Be Fired in Colorado for Using Medical Marijuana on
Your Time Off
Daily Sheeple - Thanks to a landmark ruling in Colorado’s
Supreme Court, there is new clarification to the state’s medical
marijuana law—though employees may not like the news. If a
workplace has a policy prohibiting drug use, workers who test
positive for marijuana are not protected from termination—even
if they are registered for medical use. In other words, you can
be fired in Colorado for using marijuana during your time off.

Election News

Donald Trump reportedly paid actors $50 to cheer for him at his
2016 announcement
Business Insider - Real estate mogul Donald Trump is being
accused of hiring actors to cheer for him at his 2016
presidential campaign announcement in New York City on Tuesday.
The allegations first surfaced in a post by anti-Trump activist
and liberal blogger Angelo Carusone that was published on Medium
shortly after Trump's event. On Wednesday, The Hollywood
Reporter said it obtained an email that allegedly came from a
casting company named Extra Mile offering actors $50 to attend
the announcement and pose as Trump supporters.

Veteran News

45 veterans sign letter urging drone pilots to stand down
RT - A group of 45 former American military members have issued
a jointly signed letter pushing drone operators to step away
from their controls and refuse to fly any more lethal missions.
The letter draws attention to the controversial operation of
drones in foreign nations, where lethal strikes in countries
such as Afghanistan and Pakistan have damaged terrorist networks
but have also claimed the lives of innocent civilians. “At least
6,000 lives have been unjustly taken by US drone attacks in
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, the Philippines,
Libya and Syria. These attacks are also undermining principles
of international law and human rights,” the authors write,
according to the Guardian.

Economy & Business

How Walmart Spun an 'Extensive and Secretive Web' of Overseas
Tax Havens
Common Dreams - Walmart has built a vast, undisclosed network of
overseas tax havens—accounting for more than $76 billion of
assets—that allows the multinational corporation to shirk public
disclosure laws as well as its fair share of both foreign and
U.S. taxes, according to a groundbreaking report published
Wednesday by Americans for Tax Fairness. All told, the retail
behemoth has established at least 78 subsidiaries in 15 offshore
tax havens, none of them publicly reported before.

New $10 bill will feature a woman, Treasury Department announces
CBS News - The department has yet to determine which woman will
be featured on the bill, though [Treasury Secretary Jack] Lew
said he will pick "a woman who has played a major role in our
history who represents the theme of democracy." Additionally,
the law dictates that currency cannot feature a living person...
The current $10 bill features a picture of Alexander Hamilton,
the nation's first Treasury Secretary. While the new note will
feature a woman, Lew said Hamilton won't be completely replaced.
That could mean the new design will feature a picture of
Hamilton and a woman (or women), or Hamilton will be featured on
just some of the new $10 notes.

Science & Technology

Self-driving cars may have to be programmed to kill you
The Independent - The self-driving cars that could soon dominate
our roads, perhaps even making human-driven ones illegal some
day, could end up being programmed to kill you if it means
saving a larger number of lives.... Though the whole point of
driverless cars is that they are better at avoiding accidents
than humans, there will still be times when a collision is
unavoidable. As such, it is conceivable that whoever programs
them will decide that ploughing you into a road barrier is
better than continuing your course into a bus packed with school
children.

Another reason to Ditch Facebook: Who owns your face?
GovtSlaves - What a bad week for privacy. Consumer watchdogs
gave up on government talks over facial recognition software
after industry groups appeared to reject even basic restrictions
on face-scanning. Meanwhile, Facebook rolled out a new service
called “Moments” that expands the use of the company’s powerful
“faceprint” technology.... Facebook’s Moments tool pushes the
privacy envelope by making it more normal than ever for others
to quickly reveal where you were and who you were with. But it
does at least offer a basic check on the tagging tool: Users who
don’t like the idea of using their as an ID can use Facebook’s
own settings to opt out. It’s unclear, however, if Facebook will
make much of an effort to tell users they can do so.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Maine Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto to Legalize
Industrial Hemp
Activist Post - Yesterday, the Maine state Senate joined the
House and voted to override Gov. LePage’s veto of a bill to
authorize hemp farming in the state without gaining any federal
permission. Introduced by Rep. Deborah Sanderson (R-Chelsea) and
cosponsored by a bipartisan coalition of seven Senators and
Representatives, LD4 amends the current hemp farming law in the
state by removing a requirement that licenses are contingent on
approval by the Federal Government. It reads, in part:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person may plant,
grow, harvest, possess, process, sell and buy industrial hemp.
On May 12, the House voted 135-6 to override LaPage’s veto, and
today, the Senate voted 27-6 to do the same. A 2/3 vote is
required to override a veto in Maine and these votes easily
cleared even that high hurdle.

Health

Could Antibiotics Give You Diabetes?
Jennifer Jenner - Antibiotics can kill infectious bacteria and
has helped to a certain extent save lives. But now there is
disturbing evidence that they may be contributing to the
disease--in other words, certain antibiotics may increase the
risk of developing diabetes. The connection is the ecosystem of
bacteria in our gut that scientists call the microbiome. It
affects digestion and immunity, and an unhealthy microbiome has
been linked to diseases as diverse as obesity, certain cancers,
inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and...diabetes.
Several studies have shown that type 2 diabetes, the kind that
affects most people, is more common in people who have
microbiomes with altered or low bacteria diversity. What we eat
and drink changes the composition of the bacteria, and so can
the medication we take...especially antibiotics.

Essential Oils Stop Cancer In Its Tracks
Joe Battaglia - Even scientists now recognize the power agents
that exist within some essential oils which stops cancer
spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves
down.... A healthy body, from head to foot, typically has a
frequency ranging from 62 to 78 MHz, while disease begins at
58Hz. During some testing with frequency and the frequency of
essential oils it was measured that: Holding a cup of coffee
dropped one man’s frequency from 66 Hz to 58 MHz in just 3
seconds. It took three days for his frequency to return to
normal. Other studies show that: Negative thoughts lower our
frequency on average 12 MHz. Positive thoughts raises our
frequency on average 10 MHz.... Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils
begin at 52 and go as high as 320 MHz! For example: Rose 320
MHz, Helichrysum 181 MHz, Frankincense 147 MHz, Ravensara 134
MHz, Lavender 118 MHz, Myrrh 105 MHz, German Camomile 105 MHz,
Juniper 98 MHz, Sandalwood 96 MHz, Angelica 85 MHz, Peppermint
78 MHz

Wednesday
- June 17, 2015 - Today in History:

1775 - The British took Bunker Hill outside of Boston.
1789 - The Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly,
and began to frame a constitution.
1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy into his empire.
1837 - Charles Goodyear received his first patent. The patent was for a
process that made rubber easier to work with.
1856 - The Republican Party opened its first national convention in
Philadelphia.
1879 - Thomas Edison received an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy
from the trustees of Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ.
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French
ship Isere.
1913 - U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American
interests in Mexico.
1926 - Spain threatened to quit the League of Nations if Germany was
allowed to join.
1928 - Amelia Earhart began the flight that made her the first woman to
successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
1930 - The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Bill became law. It placed the highest
tariff on imports to the U.S.
1932 - The U.S. Senate defeated the bonus bill as 10,000 veterans massed
around the Capitol.
1940 - The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War II.
1941 - WNBT-TV in New York City, NY, was granted the first construction
permit to operate a commercial TV station in the U.S.
1944 - The republic of Iceland was established.
1950 - Dr. Richard H. Lawler performed the first kidney transplant in a
45-minute operation in Chicago, IL.
1963 - The U.S. Supreme Court banned the required reading of the Lord's
prayer and Bible in public schools.
1965 - Twenty-seven B-52’s hit Viet Cong outposts but lost two planes in
South Vietnam.
1970 - North Vietnamese troops cut the last operating rail line in
Cambodia.
1982 - Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon was interviewed by Diane
Sawyer on "The CBS Morning News."
1991 - The Parliament of South Africa repealed the Population
Registration Act. The act had required that all South Africans for
classified by race at birth.
1994 - After leading police on a chase through Southern California, O.J.
Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his
ex-wife, Nicole, and Ronald Goldman.

World News

The Second Nuclear Arms Race Arrives: Russia Will Add 40 ICBMs In 2015
In Response To “NATO Encroachment”
Zero Hedge - With the US and Russia in a state of (renewed) cold war for
over a year now, it was inevitable that that “other”, far more important
attribute of the first Cold War would soon return: the nuclear arms
race. And indeed it did just around dinner time in Russia today when
speaking at an arms race fair, president Putin said that Russia will put
more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles into service in
2015 as part of a wide-reaching program to modernize the military.

Greeks are stashing €10,000 bundles in their homes in fear of Grexit
The Guardian - “Everybody’s doing it,” said Joanna Christofosaki, in
front of a Eurobank cash dispenser in the leafy Athens neighbourhood of
Kolonaki. “Our friends have all done it. Nobody wants their money to be
worthless tomorrow. Nobody wants to be unable to get at it.”... Bank
deposits have been falling steadily since October and now stand at their
lowest level since 2004. Withdrawals in recent weeks have averaged
€200-250m a day, but on Monday – after the shock collapse of last-ditch
talks between the Greek government and its eurozone and international
lenders – withdrawals surged to €400m

Monsanto Linked to Israel's Illegal Use of White Phosphorous in Gaza War
Sputnik News - Agribusiness giant Monsanto - best known for their
genetically modified soybeans and "probably carcinogenic" herbicide -
has supplied the US government with white phosphorous used in incendiary
weapons for at least 20 years, and some of that made its way to Israel
for use in Operation Cast Lead. The blog Current Events Inquiry dug into
some heavily redacted documents posted in 2012 on the US Federal
Business Opportunities (FBO) website, to discover that Monsanto was the
purveyor of white phosphorous to the US, and subsequently Israel,
including during Operation Cast Lead, which resulted in heavy casualties
among Palestinians in Gaza in 2008 and 2009.

Bitcoin Spikes As Greeks Follow Cyprus "Template"
Zero Hedge - In March/April 2013, Bitcoin prices started to soar as
Dijsselbloem's "template" applied to Cyprus prompted many to rethink
money entirely. As the reality of a possible Grexit looms and Capital
Controls are denied (just as they were in Cyprus), so Bitcoin prices are
once again surging (up 10% in the last few days) as non-fiat currency
once again becomes bid.

The Next Great European Financial Crisis Has Begun
Economic Collapse - The Greek financial system is in the process of
totally imploding, and the rest of Europe will soon follow. Neither the
Greeks nor the Germans are willing to give in, and that means that there
is very little chance that a debt deal is going to happen by the end of
June. So that means that we will likely see a major Greek debt default
and potentially even a Greek exit from the eurozone. At this point,
credit default swaps on Greek debt have risen 456 percent in price since
the beginning of this year, and the market has priced in a 75 percent
chance that a Greek debt default will happen. Over the past month, the
yield on two year Greek bonds has skyrocketed from 20 percent to more
than 30 percent, and the Greek stock market has fallen by a total of 13
percent during the last three trading days alone. This is what a
financial collapse looks like, and if Greece does leave the euro, we are
going to see this kind of carnage happen all over Europe.

Pope Calls for Global Authority to Impose Climate Change Agenda
Kurt Nimmo - Pope Francis would like to see a new global political
authority to coerce the “rich” nations of the West to force citizens to
adopt radical lifestyle and energy consumption changes in response to
unverified and widely debunked climate change alarmism. Pope Francis
would like to see a new global political authority to coerce the “rich”
nations of the West to force citizens to adopt radical lifestyle and
energy consumption changes in response to unverified and widely debunked
climate change alarmism.... The release of the encyclical comes ahead of
international climate negotiations in Paris this December. * Related:
Catholics Attack Pope Over “Climate Change” Fearmongering

South Korea Lures Travelers With MERS Insurance to Keep Tourism Afloat
Sputnik News - With 16 people dead and thousands under quarantine after
an outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Seoul is
struggling to manage the countrywide health-panic as well as its impact
on the tourism industry. As of Tuesday, there have been 162 confirmed
cases of MERS in South Korea.... According to the Strait Times, tourist
arrival in South Korea has dropped by 24.6% in just the first 11 days of
June, and the country may eventually lose $900 million in tourism
revenue if things don’t improve.... Seoul is also taking alternative
measures to respond to the tourism crisis. Namely, the country’s
Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism has announced that it will offer
any tourist free "MERS insurance" that will cover all their medical, and
even travel expenses should they catch the virus.

UK: Teachers Use Spy Software to Detect Potential Child Terrorists
Mikael Thalen - Schools throughout the United Kingdom are being provided
new surveillance software aimed at detecting “extremist” students. The
program, designed by UK-based Impero Software, assists schools in
building threat profiles on individual students by utilizing real-time
electronic monitoring. Installed on school laptops and tablets, the
software uses keyword search capabilities and URL monitoring to detect
the use of “terrorism-related” words or phrases, allowing teachers to
examine suspicious behavior patterns among students.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Senate passes torture ban despite Republican opposition
The Guardian - More than 20 Republican senators rejected a ban
on the use of cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners on
Tuesday, voting against an ultimately successful measure to
permanently prevent a repeat of the CIA’s once secret and now
widely-discredited torture program. The bipartisan amendment
reaffirms President Barack Obama’s prohibition of interrogation
techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, which
were developed by the CIA under the administration of his
predecessor, George W Bush. The measure passed in the Senate,
78-21.

Alabama city tosses property rights aside, threatens military
vet for living ‘off the grid’
Yellowhammer - According to a report by WAFF, Tyler Truitt
currently lives inside the city limits of Huntsville, but is not
connected to city utilities. City officials have told him they
consider his residence a “trailer” and say he must be connected
to city hookups, and they are so adamant about it they have
decided to come after him in court. “They came and they
condemned our house and told us if we stayed here we’d be
arrested for trespassing on our own property, and the reason why
is (because) they said it was unsafe living conditions because
we don’t have city utilities hooked up,” Truitt told the local
TV station.

VIDEO: Benghazi Committee Discovers Clinton Correspondences
Withheld
Breitbart - The patented Obama/Clinton slow walk technique, in
which important information is held back from the public, press,
and congressional investigators until scandals die of old age,
is evidently still in use. A congressional source tells Politico
that “House GOP Benghazi investigators have discovered
additional Libya communications between Sidney Blumenthal and
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” long after subpoenas
were filed and supposedly responded to.

Indictment Alleges Garland Cartoon Contest Shooters Had Help
Breitbart - The indictment of a third man in the anti-free
speech terror plot to murder Pamela Geller and others at the
Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland, Texas in May
indicates that the planning and coordination is deeper than
previously known. The indictment also points to the possible
involvement of other co-conspirators. Decarus Thomas, aka Abdul
Malik Abdul Kareem, is scheduled to appear in a Phoenix
courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, facing three counts: conspiracy,
interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a
felony, and making a false statement.

Military surveillance technologies are being integrated into law
enforcement by DHS
MassPrivateI - It always begins with a trickle or in this case
hot air. When D.C. politicians and law enforcement announced
they would spend nearly $3 billion in taxpayer dollars to
install surveillance blimps, the first Homeland Security run
Department of Transportation (DOT) announced they want one or
more.... "It is the first department of transportation in the
country to use a blimp to monitor traffic" CDOT spokeswoman Amy
Ford said. The tethered balloon allowed officials to attain a
view from 400 feet up, allowing a view of up to more than 10
miles. The balloon, which was located near one of the
department’s node buildings, allowed anyone with access to the
camera control system to view a live stream of the video and
then zoom, tilt or pan the camera to get a better shot of the
action.

Knife Regulation Arrives: This Is The US Government, Hard At
Work
Zero Hedge - S. 1315 would allow people to possess knives in
states where they are illegal if the person is travelling to and
from states where the knife is legal, if the knife is secured,
or if the knife is a safety blade designed for cutting
seatbelts. Based on information provided by the Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, CBO estimates that
implementing S. 1315 would have no effect on the federal budget.
Because enacting S. 1315 would not affect direct spending or
revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.

Federal Judge Gives Go-Ahead to Class Action Lawsuit against
Pepsi for Exceeding California Carcinogenic Substance Limit
AllGov - Pepsi is headed to court in California, where a federal
judge has ruled (pdf) it must confront allegations that its
popular soft drinks contain unhealthy levels of a carcinogen.
The civil case, representing nine class action lawsuits combined
together, claims Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi One have levels of
the carcinogenic 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI) that exceed what’s
allowed under California Proposition 65. That law established a
maximum allowable limit of 4-MeI at 29 micrograms a day. Drinks
containing the chemical at higher levels have been proven to
produce a significant risk of cancer.

New US Regulations Allow Food Producers to Hide Trans Fats -
Advocacy Group
Sputnik News - New US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
regulations that ban food manufacturers to use partially
hydrogenated oils have a loophole allowing them not to disclose
trans fat content, Environmental Working Group (EWG) Director of
Research Renee Sharp stated in a press release. We applaud the
FDA for taking an important step that would eventually eliminate
partially hydrogenated oils,” Sharp said on Tuesday. “[But] the
FDA has failed to close the labeling loophole that allows
processed food manufacturers to avoid full disclosure.”... The
FDA set a three-year period for companies to reformulate
products without using partially hydrogenated oils or petition
the FDA to use trans fat. However, EWG stated the new rules
allow companies to label their food as “trans fat free” even if
it contains 0.49 grams of trans fat per serving.

Economy & Business

Banks Demanding Customers Account for Every Deposit & Withdrawal
Before Offering Mortgages
Paul Joseph Watson - Banks are beginning to demand that
customers account for every deposit and withdrawal in their
account before they can obtain a mortgage, another illustration
of how capital controls imposed on the middle class are
intensifying. “My sister just bought a house and to get the
mortgage she had to explain every deposit and cash withdrawal in
her account going back five years. My mother had simply written
her a check for $400 to reimburse her for picking up some
medicine. They wanted her to explain why my mother gave her
$400,” writes economist Martin Armstrong, adding that his sister
was also grilled on the $2,000 she withdrew ever few months to
pay for incidental purchases. Another of Armstrong’s friends who
shared an apartment with his girlfriend was also forced to
account for five and a half years worth of rent checks he had
written her before they could get a mortgage together.

Income Inequality Increasing: Millionaires Set to Control Half
World Wealth
Sputnik News - Boston Consulting Group's annual Global Wealth
report says that in 2014 there were 17 million millionaires in
the world, up from 15 million in 2013, and they now account for
41% the world's $164 trillion in private wealth, which is
expected to rise to 46% share by 2019. "The wealthier are
getting more and more wealthy," BCG partner and managing
director Anna Zakrzewski told MSNBC. "They have a much larger
share of their wealth invested in equity markets and last year
was a good year for market performance." In another indication
that those gaining wealth are making money from money itself,
the report says 73% of the world's gains in private wealth in
2014 came from gains on existing assets rather than the creation
of new wealth or business.

Energy & Environment

California Water Cuts Leave City Days Away From Running Out Of
Water
(CBS13) - The upscale community of Mountain House, west of
Tracy, is days away from having no water. It’s not just about
lawns—there may not be a drop for the 15,000 residents to
drink.... “We’re out there looking for water supplies as we
speak,” said Mountain House general manager Ed Pattison. “We
have storage tanks, but those are basically just to ensure the
correct pressurization of the distribution system. No more than
2 days are in those storage tanks.”

America’s Most Advanced Climate Station Data Shows US In A
10-Year Cooling Trend
Daily Caller - The U.S. Climate Reference Network was developed
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to
provide “high-quality” climate data. The network consists of 114
stations across the U.S. in areas NOAA expects no development
for the next 50 to 100 years. The climate stations use three
independent measurements of temperature and precipitation to
provide “continuity of record and maintenance of well-calibrated
and highly accurate observations,” NOAA states on its website.
“The stations are placed in pristine environments expected to be
free of development for many decades.” In essence, NOAA chose
locations so they don’t need to be adjusted for “biases” in the
temperature record.

Science & Technology

Obama Pushes Internet ID Verification in Response to NSA Hacking
Kurt Nimmo - NSA has history of covert hacking for political
gain. On Monday the White House ordered federal agencies to
implement cybersecurity fixes “without delay” after a reported
breach of government employee records. The Obama administration
used the reported breach to announce its desire to “dramatically
accelerate implementation” of multi-factor authentication for
network access. This is White House speak for personal identity
verification, i.e., a smart card, possibly a biometric one.

Mind Reading Technology Takes a Huge Leap Forward
Paul Joseph Watson - Scientists are moving closer to developing
mind reading technology after researchers at the Wadsworth
Center in New York were able to record the brain waves directly
associated with speech during a recent study. The researchers
used electrocorticography to map out which areas of the brain
lit up when certain words were spoken with the aid of electrodes
located on the surface of the cortex. Seven epileptic patients
who were undergoing clinical treatments participated in the
study. “It has now been shown for the first time that is
possible to reconstruct basic units, words, and complete
sentences of continuous speech from these brain waves and to
generate the corresponding text,” according to a report on the
study.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Organic industry in shock as Whole Foods pushes new rating
system that promotes chemical agriculture as better than organic
(NaturalNews) Increasingly, organic farmers are alleging that
the Whole Foods brand is using its rather formidable marketing
skills behind the scenes, along with its credibility among many
consumers, to send the message that conventionally grown produce
is just as good as -- or better than -- organically grown
products also featured in stores. Shoppers are being given the
option of choosing fruits and vegetables that carry the
designations "good," "better" or "best." Longtime Whole Foods
suppliers are complaining that the program, which is called
Reponsibly Grown, can give a farmer who does not meet stringent
requirements for federal organic certification the same rating
as true organic farmers.

Health

Study Finds Over The Counter Heartburn Antacids Could Give You A
Heart Attack
Nigam Shah - Quick relief from acute heartburn and its chronic
cousin GERD is a good thing. But is it worth risking a heart
attack? That's the devil's choice that millions of Americans may
be making without realizing it. A large new "big data" study
finds a strong statistical link between proton pump inhibitors (PPIs)
such as Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium (and their generic
versions) and heart attacks. It's big news because PPIs are the
third most popular prescription drugs and the second most
popular over-the-counter drugs in the country...used by 21
million Americans. And the increased risk for heart attacks is
not just to people with heart conditions or those taking certain
medications, but to everyone, healthy or sick, young or old.

AMA Prepares Gag Order for Medical Dissenters
Alliance for Natural Health - Angered by what they call “quack
MDs,” the AMA recently decided to “actively defend the
profession.” In particular, it plans to create ethical
guidelines for physicians in the media, write a report on how
doctors may be disciplined for violating medical ethics through
their press involvement, and release a public statement
denouncing the dissemination of dubious medical information
through the radio, TV, newspapers, or websites. Dr. Mehmet Oz of
The Dr. Oz Show was specifically mentioned as being responsible
for the type of behavior and “pseudoscience” that the AMA would
like to curtail.... The bias, then, is already overwhelmingly
against integrative practitioners, and now the AMA is looking to
take further steps to silence them.

12
Benefits of Basil + Recipe Ideas
Dr. Axe - Basil is a common aromatic herb in the mint family,
the same plant family as other nutrient-dense, beneficial herbs,
including mint, oregano and rosemary. Basil, of course, is used
to add flavor to a variety of recipes...

Pet News

US Customs Agents Target Russian-American Animal Rescue Group
Sputnik News - US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have
threatened to seize animals belonging to the animal rescue group Sochi
Dogs, which offers homeless dogs from Russia up for adoption
worldwide... “We never had a problem until recently,” Sochi Dogs
President Anna Umansky told Sputnik on Tuesday. “A Customs officer said
we were told we [sic] are not allowed to pick up the dogs.” CBP had
seized two dogs at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
Cityafter they arrived in crates from Sochi, Russia.... She explained US
agents eventually handed over the dogs, but told her future shipments
will be denied until Sochi Dogs abides by US Customs regulations. “We
always have the correct documents, vaccinations and are able to give
ample notice before every pick-up,” Umanksy said. * Related:Sochi Dogs
Extraordinary Strays

Tuesday
- June 16, 2015 - Today in History:

1815 - Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny,
Netherlands.
1858 - In a speech in Springfield, IL, U.S. Senate candidate Abraham
Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved. He declared, "A house
divided against itself cannot stand."
1884 - At Coney Island, in Brooklyn, NY, the first roller coaster in
America opened.
1890 - The second Madison Square Gardens opened.
1897 - The U.S. government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.
1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
1932 - The ban on Nazi storm troopers was lifted by the von Papen
government in Germany.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the closure of all
German consulates in the United States. The deadline was set as July 10.
1955 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend Selective
Service until 1959.
1978 - U.S. President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos
ratified the Panama Canal treaties.
1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush welcomed Russian President Boris
Yeltsin to a meeting in Washington, DC. The two agreed in principle to
reduce strategic weapon arsenals by about two-thirds by the year 2003.
1993 - The U.S. Postal Service released a set of seven stamps that
featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie
Valens, Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley.
1996 - Russian voters had their first independent presidential election.
Boris Yeltsin was the winner after a run-off.
1999 - The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that a 1992 federal music
piracy law does not prohibit a palm-sized device that can download
high-quality digital music files from the Internet and play them at
home.
2000 - U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson reported that an
employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico had
discovered that two computer hard drives were missing.
2008 - California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

World News

US may send F-22 fighter jets to Europe to counter Russian ‘threat’
RT - A senior US Air Force official called the current situation with
Russia “the biggest threat” on her mind, hinting at a possible display
of power that could see American military aircraft, including F-22
Raptor fighter jets, deployed to Europe. The Air Force is now
considering a plan to further increase the number of its rotational
forces in Europe, the US Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James,
told reporters at the Paris Airshow at Le Bourget. “That’s the
beginning, there will be more. You’ll continue to see more and more
rotational forces,” James said as quoted by Reuters. “The biggest threat
on my mind is what’s happening with Russia and the activities of Russia.
That’s a big part of why I’m here in Europe.”

Greece’s Syriza weaves scheme for default, return to national currency -
media
RT - A wing of Greece’s anti-austerity Syriza party is eyeing a plan to
default on government debt and replace the euro with its own national
currency in case negotiations on a bailout with its creditors fail,
media have reported. The plan envisions a default similar to the one
implemented by Iceland during the 2008 financial crisis, along with the
nationalization of the Greek banking system. The party faction considers
the continuing negotiations with European creditors useless, The
Telegraph reported Monday citing sources familiar with the matter. It
also foresees controlling capital movements and the establishment of a
sovereign central bank to serve as a basis for a new financial system.
The introduction of a dual currency is possible, the source said, but
would violate the terms of membership in the eurozone, which could mean
a quick return to Greece’s previous currency, the drachma.

Russia Sells Off More Than 40 Percent of US Treasuries in One Year
Sputnik News - The amount of US government bonds held by Russia reduced
by more than 40 percent in the space of one year, according to figures
released by the US Treasury on Monday. In April 2015, Russia held $66.5
billion in US government debt, down from $69.9 billion in March, and 43
percent less than the $116.4 billion it held in April 2014, when it was
the twelfth largest holder of US debt. In April 2014, Russia was the
22nd largest creditor of the US.... Over the same period, the amount of
gold reserves held by the Russian Central Bank rose from $44.3 billion
in April 2014, to $48.3 billion in April 2015.

Big Business Behind New European Trade Secrets Law
Sputnik News - MEPs in the European Parliament are due to vote on a new
Trade Secrets Directive which critics say threatens people and the
planet by letting companies keep information on the health and
environmental impact of their operations secret, and sue anyone who
reveals it. According to lawyers at ClientEarth, the new law has been
moulded by corporations like Michelin and lobbyists Business Europe,
among others, with almost no input from organizations working to protect
public health. On Tuesday, the European Parliament's legal affairs
committee has the opportunity to change the proposal before it is
finally adopted by the European Parliament in plenary.

‘Most aggressive since Cold War’: Russia may beef up border if US arms
stationed in E. Europe
RT - Russia has no binding obligations limiting its armed forces in its
western region, which means if the US deploys heavy weapons in Eastern
Europe and the Baltic States, there will be an equivalent response from
Moscow, Russia’s top general said. “If America’s heavy arms, be it
tanks, artillery systems or other heavy military hardware are deployed
to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, it will be the Pentagon’s and
NATO’s most aggressive step since the end of the Cold War a quarter of a
century ago,” General Yury Yakubov, a senior Defense Ministry official,
was quoted as saying by Interfax.

US, China strike deal, set to hold joint military drills
RT - The US and China have signed a rare agreement to strengthen ties
and develop a more productive military relationship. However, mistrust
still remains, with Beijing saying progress can only be made if
Washington respects China’s South China Sea ambitions. The understanding
mainly concerns a deepening of cooperation between the two nations,
following a meeting between Fan Changlong, the vice chairman of China’s
Central Military Commission and US Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter.

BP and Rosneft to make $700mn deal despite sanctions
RT - Russian oil major Rosneft and BP are close to signing a $700
million deal for BP to acquire a 20 percent stake in the Taas-Yuriakh
Siberian oilfield, reports the FT. The deal could be announced this week
at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The introduction of
EU sanctions against Russia hasn’t scared off the largest European
companies, working in the fuel and energy sector, according to Financial
Times. Besides BP, Italy’s Eni and Norway's Statoil have already
received governmental approval to continue working on joint projects
with Rosneft. Shell continues to work with Gazprom Neft over the Salym
project in the Siberian Khanty-Mansiysk area and is seeking Dutch
government approval for other joint ventures.

EU preparing for ‘state of emergency’ after Greek talks collapse
Reuters - Greece and its creditors hardened their stances on Monday
after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible
euro exit, prompting Germany's EU commissioner to say the time had come
to prepare for a "state of emergency". Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
ignored pleas from European leaders to act fast. Instead he blamed
creditors for Sunday's breakdown of the cash-for-reform talks, the
biggest setback in long-running negotiations to unlock aid. He said his
government had a responsibility to defend Greece's dignity and would
resist demands for further pension cuts.... Despite the deepening
crisis, Tsipras is going ahead with a planned visit to Russia from
Thursday, the day euro zone finance ministers hold a crucial meeting to
review the standoff with Greece. He is due to stay till Saturday, attend
an economic forum in Saint Petersburg and meet President Vladimir Putin.
EU officials said that without improved Greek proposals by Thursday, the
Eurogroup session would be very tough and was likely to present Greece
with an ultimatum. * Related:
Stocks fall globally as Greek talks collapse

Zimbabwe phases out local currency at 35 quadrillion to US$1
Hang The Bankers - Zimbabwe has started retiring its almost worthless
local currency in favor of the US dollar. Today, 35 quadrillion
Zimbabwean dollars are equal to US $1, as a result of hyperinflation
which hit the country in 2009. The demonetization process of the
Zimbabwe dollar started on Monday and will run till September 30. People
with accounts of up to 175 quadrillion (175,000,000,000,000,000)
Zimbabwean dollars will be paid $5. Those who preserved bills at home
will receive a rate of 250 trillion to $1 for their 2008-issued notes
and 250 to $1 for their 2009-issued notes.

Shock Video: Rioting Migrants Attempt to Hijack Trucks Heading for UK
Paul Joseph Watson - Shocking footage filmed in the French port town of
Calais shows desperate migrants attempting to break into delivery trucks
heading to the United Kingdom in another illustration of how the
country’s generous welfare system acts as a beacon for illegal
aliens.... The migrants are keen to reach the UK because they can
exploit the country’s generous welfare system and obtain a much higher
standard of living than in France, where they are forced to reside in a
makeshift tent village in Calais known as “the jungle”. Around 2,500
migrants live in the tent village, with most of them coming from Sudan,
Eritrea, Libya and Syria.

Vatican Speaker on Climate Thinks There are 6 Billion Too Many of Us
Breitbart - One of the speakers slated for the Vatican rollout of the
long-awaited Papal document on climate change once said the earth is
overpopulated by at least 6 billion people. The teaching document,
called an encyclical, is scheduled for release on June 18 at Vatican
City. Perhaps with the exception of the 1968 encyclical on
contraception, no Vatican document has been greeted with such
anticipation. The political left is hoping for a document that ties
belief in global warming to a religious obligation. Climate skeptics
have already started criticizing the document. The choice of Professor
John Schnellnhuber, founding director of the Postdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research, as one of three presenters may be giving the
left added hope and giving giving skeptics severe heartburn. He has been
described as one of the more aggressive scientists on the question of
man-made global warming.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Roll Call - House Republicans had intended to hold a vote
Tuesday to reconsider last week’s failed vote on Trade
Adjustment Assistance legislation, needed to send the Trade
Promotion Authority bill — which passed — to the president’s
desk. But the Rules Committee on Monday evening put language in
its rule governing floor debate for an unrelated measure — the
fiscal 2016 authorization of intelligence programs — to extend
the House’s ability to reconsider the TAA vote up until July 30,
the very last possible moment before the monthlong August
recess. This gives lawmakers and the White House seven more
weeks to engage members on both sides of the aisle and determine
the best course of action.

US Marines: Our Sniper Rifles Are Outdated on the Battlefield
Sputnik News - The Marine Corps is notorious for fielding
outdated equipment – some of which can be as many as 30 years
old. When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Marine snipers
carried the M40A1 sniper rifles, many of which were introduced
shortly after the end of the Vietnam War. The Marines currently
use a newer variant of the M40 as its primary sniper rifle – and
it still shoots roughly the same distance it did 12 years ago:
1,000 yards. Active and former Marine Corps snipers say their
weapons are inferior to that of other American military
branches, and they do not match what the Taliban and the
so-called Islamic State carry either. "It doesn't matter if we
have the best training," one anonymous reconnaissance sniper
told the Washington Post. "If we get picked off at a thousand
yards before we can shoot, then what’s the point?"

US Army Loses Track of Own Personnel - GAO Report
Sputnik News - The US Army quite literally does not know what
its own personnel are doing when they are on “borrowed” duty, a
new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said. The Army
does not know the extent to which it used borrowed military
personnel during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 because it is unable
to distinguish borrowed military personnel from the larger
category of special duty personnel in its monthly special duty
reports,” the report said. The term borrowed appears to be used
in the report to define US military personnel who are taken from
their regular duties to carry out more informal activities.

ATF To Join NYPD In Fighting New York City Gun Crime
CBS2 - Now in an unprecedented move, a federal agency is joining
the effort to get gun crimes under control, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer
reported Monday. Kramer is told it was a collective decision
made by the federal government, the NYPD, the U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District of New York, and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Those agencies are mounting a
first-ever anti-gun initiative in high-crime areas. “There’s
going to be an increase in federal arrests – no doubt,” said AFT
agent Charles Mulham. Mulham’s words were intended to be a stiff
warning to city residents who would carry weapons, and seem all
to ready to use them. They will not only have to deal with the
NYPD, but they will have the feds on their tail too.

USMan Spends 7 Years in Notorious Rikers Jail Awaiting Trial for
a Murder He Didn’t Commit
Sputnik News - Carlos Montero, who is now 24 years old, has been
held in pretrial detention since he was 17 for a murder he did
not commit. But the judge refuses to separate his case from that
of the actual murderer, leaving him hopelessly trapped.... There
is a New York state statute guaranteeing a prisoner’s right to a
speedy trial, stating that they must see trial within 180 days,
but it does not apply to murder cases. Again, Montero is not
accused of murdering anyone.

US Meals Programs for Elderly Miss 90% of People in Need
Sputnik News - Many elderly Americans with low incomes who need
meals services do not receive them despite the growing need for
such programs, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report revealed.... Many elderly Americans with low incomes who
need meals services do not receive them despite the growing need
for such programs, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report revealed.

Election News

Hillary Clinton Backs Fast-Track On Obama's Trade Deals
Zero Hedge - Hillary Clinton actually supports Barack Obama’s
trade-policy, and even supports the way in which he is trying to
get it through Congress. However, the news-media didn’t report
it that way. Hilary is repeating her earlier tactics, in 2008,
when she tried to give the impression that she had opposed her
husband Bill Clinton’s NAFTA, though in fact she had earlier
bragged about how great it was for the country and claimed it as
if it were her own.

Economy & Business

In Dramatic Decision Judge Finds Fed Bailout Of AIG Was
"Illegal", Government "Violated Federal Reserve Act"
Zero Hedge - "Starr alleges in its own right and on behalf of
other AIG shareholders that the Government’s actions in
acquiring control of AIG constituted a taking without just
compensation and an illegal exaction, both in violation of the
Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.... Having considered
the entire record, the Court finds in Starr’s favor on the
illegal exaction claim. As the Court noted during closing
arguments, a troubling feature of this outcome is that the
Government is able to avoid any damages notwithstanding its
plain violations of the Federal Reserve Act. "

We Might As Well Face It – America Is Addicted To Debt
Economic Collapse -Corporations, individuals and the federal
government continue to rack up debt at a rate that is far faster
than the overall rate of economic growth.... Consumer credit has
doubled since the year 2000. Student loan debt has doubled over
the course of the past decade. Business debt has doubled since
2006. And of course the debt of the federal government has
doubled since 2007.... We have accumulated the greatest mountain
of debt that the world has ever seen, and yet despite all of the
warnings we just continue to race forward into financial
oblivion.... Companies are sitting on a record $1.82 trillion in
cash. That might sound impressive until you hear companies owe
three times more – $5.8 trillion, according to a new report from
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Debt levels are soaring at
U.S. non-financial companies so quickly – total debt outstanding
rose $650 billion in 2014, which is six times faster than the
$100 billion in added cash.

Gap To Fire Thousands, Close A Quarter Of All Specialty
Locations
Zero Hedge - Moments ago, one of the biggest clothing retailers
in the US confirmed the worst nightmares about the state of US
consumer spending, when it reported that it would shut down over
25% of all of its specialty stores in the US, or about 175 (of
which 140 will be shut in the current year), leaving the firm
just 500 specialty locations and 300 outlet stores. And, in
addition to the thousands of job terminations these closures
would entail, the company will further fire another 250 in its
headquarters.

Energy & Environment

California’s Super Wealthy Refuse to Cut Water: ‘No, We’re Not
All Equal’
Sputnik News - Residents of extremely wealthy suburbs in
Southern California are claiming that there is a “war on
suburbia,” and that they are being “drought-shamed” for their
wasteful habits. They believe that if they can afford it, the
water should be theirs, and all theirs. A resident of Rancho
Santa Fe, an ultra wealthy community that uses five times the
statewide average of water, believes that water is not a basic
human right to be shared and preserved for all to use, but
rather a commodity similar to gas.... After Governor Jerry Brown
called for a 25% reduction in the state’s water use in April,
Rancho Santa Fe snubbed their wealthy noses at the directive and
actually used 9% more water than the previous month.

Fracking to blame? Alabama earthquakes occurring near shale-gas
developments
RT - More than a dozen minor earthquakes have struck western
Alabama’s Greene County since November. The area is near the
Black Warrior Basin, where thousands of hydraulic fracturing
natural gas wells have been operating in recent years. The
Associated Press reported Sunday that Greene County has had 14
notable yet inexplicable seismic events since November 20,
starting with a magnitude 3.8 quake 10 miles northwest of Eutaw.
The latest was a magnitude 3.0 earthquake on June 6.... Some
wonder if hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the area is the
source of unusual seismic activity, as the oil and gas
extraction process has been the cause of quakes in other areas
of the United States, including Oklahoma and Ohio.

Science & Technology

US Nuclear Bombers Lack Satellite Terminals for Atomic
Emergencies
Sputnik News - US satellite terminals to ensure communications
with nuclear bombers do not yet exist and have been delayed
indefinitely, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report said. “[The] development of key satellite communication
terminals for strategic bomber aircraft has been deferred by
several years,” the report said. “Further details remain
classified.” The terminals were planned to be part of a massive
nuclear command, communications and control (NC3) system, the
GAO explained.

Police Release “Pre-Crime” Smartphone App
Kit Daniels - Swiss police have released a “pre-crime”
smartphone app which warns users about crimes “before they are
committed” based on criminal prediction software. The app,
published by the Aargau cantonal police under the name “Kapo
Aargau,” sends users a “pre-crime” report for their area
compiled by the Precobs forecasting software, which uses past
crime data fed into an algorithm. “The cantonal police of Aargau
used the Precobs for a short time and comes to a similar
conclusion: the system has repeatedly delivered amazingly
accurate predictions,” the Aargauer Zeitung reported when the
app was first being tested. “That leaves other cantons listening
attentively; police forces from across the country are
interested in testing the software.” And across the world as
well; numerous police departments in the U.S. are also using
similar technology, such as the Miami Police Dept. which has
adopted the Hunchlab prediction software.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Poultry producers worry about proposed bird flu vaccine; jab
could SPREAD more bird flu across America!
(NaturalNews) Some turkey producers in the Midwest are
reportedly pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to
approve a novel vaccine for bird flu that would be the first of
its kind ever used on poultry animals intended for human
consumption. The vaccine hasn't even undergone testing or been
proven to work, of course, but the "act first, ask questions
later" segment of the factory food industry thinks it's a great
idea. Then there's the issue of live virus shedding, which has
gained considerable attention in recent months due to the
media's scare campaign over measles. It's a fact that many flu
vaccines contain attenuated (weakened) live virus, and the
proposed bird flu vaccine is no exception.

Health

Ozone therapy for breast cancer: It just makes common sense
(NaturalNews) Anyone who is committed to healing their breast
cancer naturally knows that cancer cells thrive in environments
with very little oxygen. In 1966, Otto Warburg, a Nobel
Prize-winning doctor from Germany, put the relationship between
cancer and oxygen this way: "Cancer cells meet their energy
needs by fermentation, not oxidation. Thus, they are dependent
upon glucose and a high oxygen environment is toxic to them."

STEVIA: The Ultra-Sweet Sugar Substitute that Isn’t Always
Natural
Natural Society - Stevia has been touted for many years as a
natural substitute for sugar and various artificial sweeteners,
but not all stevia is created equal.... The various beverage and
food companies now market their new and improved stevia-sweetened
products under various brand names. In each of these cases it is
important to understand that the extracts and derivatives are
far from natural. Because they are extracted or derived
chemically, there may be present other chemical byproducts
and/or residues which may be harmful.... The trade and brand
names of these chemically-derived forms of stevia, which are now
used extensively across many food and beverage product lines,
are as follows... * Related:
Truvia’s Sweet Scam: Highly Processed, GMO, and Contains Hardly
Any Stevia

Food “Safety”? All the Dangerous Food Recalls in Just the Last
Few Days
Natural Blaze - One of the clear and present dangers in having
such a highly industrialized, highly centralized food system in
this country (a system where a whopping 96% of everyone relies
on the other 4% for their food) is contamination. Our food is so
centralized now that 10 megacorporations essentially own and
produce all the brands you see on your grocery store shelf....
So in a typical week, several products are found contaminated
with everything from undeclared major allergens to potentially
fatal food-borne pathogens to “particulate matter”. You never
know what you’re gonna get. In just the last few days, these
things have been recalled (via the FDA’s recall page and the
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service FSIS)...

Monday
- June 15, 2015 - Today in History:

1215 - King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta.
1752 - Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a
thunderstorm. The result was it showed the relationship between
lightning and electricity.
1775 - George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by
the Second Continental Congress.
1836 - Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.
1846 - The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute
concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a
treaty.
1864 - An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as
Arlington National Cemetery.
1898 - The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of
Hawaii.
1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy
Scouts of America.
1944 - American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during
World War II.
1947 - The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition
of India.
1948 - Soviet authorities announced that the Autobahn would be closed
indefinitely "for repairs."
1981 - The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military
and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.
1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by
striking down state and local restriction on abortions.
1986 - Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, said the chief engineer of
the Chernobyl nuclear plant was let go for mishandling the incident at
the plant.
1992 - It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could
kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.
1992 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell
"potato" with an "e" on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on
a faulty flash card that had been written by the student's teacher.
1994 - Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.
1999 - South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during
an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.
2003 - A jury in Houston convicted accounting firm Arthur Andersen of
obstruction of justice.
2006 - A divided Supreme Court made it easier for police to barge into
homes and seize evidence without knocking or waiting.

World News

MI6 Recalls Secret Agents From Abroad for Fear of Uncover by Russia,
China
Sputnik - The British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, has withdrawn
its agents out of live operations in foreign countries as they could
allegedly be identified by Russia and China with the help of files
stolen by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward
Snowden, The Sunday Times reports.The newspaper claimed on Sunday citing
senior British officials that Moscow has gained access to over 1 million
classified files that contain details of secret intelligence techniques
and information that could be used to identify British and American
spies.

US conducts ‘counter-terrorism’ airstrike in Libya, unsure of result
RT - The Pentagon has announced it conducted an airstrike in Libya
targeting an Al-Qaeda-associated militant, but could not be completely
sure that it succeeded. The Libyan government, meanwhile, has claimed
the strike killed the notorious Mokhtar Belmokhtar.... The Pentagon has
not released any details about the operation, nor the name of the
alleged terrorist who was targeted. In the past, Americans have used
drones to strike targets in the region. Warren did emphasize that there
had been no US boots on the ground assisting the operation, Reuters
reports.

Poland, Lithuania discussing plans with Washington to harbor US army
equipment
RT - Warsaw and Vilnius are in talks with Washington about the permanent
stationing of US army equipment warehouses, officials from the two
countries said. Heavy weapons may be stored in the Baltic States,
Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary. The Polish Defense Ministry
tweeted that during his recent visit to Washington Defense Minister
Tomasz Siemoniak was given assurances that a final decision on
stationing the warehouses would be taken shortly....The Pentagon's
far-reaching proposal requires approval from Defense Secretary Ashton B.
Carter and the White House. Should the move be given the go-ahead, it
would be the first deployment of military hardware in Europe since the
end of the Cold War 25 years ago. The plan falls short of a permanent
boots-on-the-ground presence.

Saudi Warplanes Destroy 2,500 Year Old Heritage Site In Yemen
Zero Hedge - On Friday, the proxy wars that, thanks in large part to US
foreign policy, now plague the Middle East, took their toll on another
UNESCO heritage site when Saudi warplanes decimated Old City, a 2,500
year-old collection of homes, towers, gardens, mosques, and public baths
in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. [The] NY Times has more: A protected
2,500-year-old cultural heritage site in Yemen’s capital, Sana, was
obliterated in an explosion early Friday, and witnesses and news reports
said the cause was a missile or bomb from a Saudi warplane. The Saudi
military denied responsibility.

BRICS Central Bank experts meet in Turkey to finalise joint Monetary
Fund
The BRICS Post - Officials from the five BRICS countries are meeting in
Bodrum, Turkey on Saturday and Sunday to finalise the joint monetary
fund ahead of the 7th Leaders Summit in Russia. Russia’s Vladimir Putin,
China’s Xi Jinping, Jacob Zuma from South Africa, Brazilian President
Dilma Rousseff and India’s Narendra Modi will meet for the Summit on 8-9
July in Ufa… The CRA is meant to provide an alternative to International
Monetary Fund’s emergency lending. In the CRA, emergency loans of up to
30 percent of a member nation’s contribution will be decided by a simple
majority. Bigger loans will require the consent of all CRA members.

"Last Chance" Greek Bailout Talks End Without Deal
Zero Hedge - What this means is that Greece came to Brussels and
presented the same "not serious" proposals Tsipras submitted last week.
That is, Athens is willing to deal on fiscal targets and is more than
willing to accept free money from the EFSF and ESM.. but is not yet
desperate enough to concede to pension cuts or VAT hikes... As we noted
earlier today (and on countless occasions previously), 'deadlines' and
'ultimatums' are largely meaningless because even if Greece misses its
June 30 bundled payment to the IMF, Christine Lagarde would need to send
a formal failure to pay letter to the Executive Board… It’s up to
Lagarde to decide when to send that letter and she would have at least
30 days.

Bilderberg Media Mogul Confronted at Airport
Paul Joseph Watson - Bronner, publisher of Der Standard, a major
national daily broadsheet newspaper published in Vienna, spent the last
few days meeting with influential power brokers from the world of
politics, media, academia, business and banking at the elitist confab in
Telfs, Austria, safely enclosed behind a huge security operation
enforced by over 2,000 police. Bronner stated, “It was a very
interesting meeting,” before referring to the Bilderberg Group’s
official website for the list of topics that were discussed (the topics
are so vague as to be almost meaningless).

MERS death toll reaches 16 among 150 confirmed S. Korea outbreak victims
RT - Two more patients with the MERS virus have died, South Korea’s
health ministry has announced. In addition, five new cases have been
confirmed, bringing the official total to 150 patients.... The hospital
has placed some 400 patients, families and medical staff under
quarantine. As of Sunday, at least 4,856 people possibly exposed to the
MERS virus were under observation nationwide.... The World Health
Organization (WHO) will be holding an emergency meeting on Tuesday to
address the “large and complex” MERS outbreak, the biggest outside Saudi
Arabia where it was first identified in humans in 2012. There is no
vaccine or cure for the virus which has a fatality rate of around 35
percent. All of South Korea’s cases are believed to be linked to
hospitals and have been traced back to a businessman who returned from
the Middle East. So far all of the deaths have involved elderly people
or patients suffering from other illnesses in addition to MERS.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

The GOP Leadership’s Latest Obamatrade Ploy: Small Business Tax
Hike That Violates GOP’s Anti-Tax Pledge
Breitbart - TAA was originally supposed to be financed with
Medicare cuts – which sparked major outrage, and cries of
hypocrisy in what would have certainly turned into boldly
negative campaign advertisements against Republicans by
Democrats this next cycle. But under pressure, Republican
leadership, mainly Boehner and Ryan, negotiated with Democrats
to remove the Medicare cuts from the financial backing of TAA
and instead using direct tax hikes by raising the penalties for
misfiled taxes. “A vote for Obamatrade on Tuesday is a vote to
give the IRS more power and more incentives to go after small
businesses,” said Curtis Ellis, founder of the Obamatrade
website, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News.

VIDEO: CNN: Attacking Dallas Police HQ ‘Courageous and Brave’
Breitbart - CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield called the attack on
Dallas Police Headquarters “very courageous and brave” on
Saturday’s “CNN Newsroom.” Whitfield, while discussing the
shooting with legal analyst Philip Holloway, said, “It was very
courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the
police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff.
So you believe these are the hallmarks of more than one person’s
involvement?”... “Well, first off, I will say that the Dallas
police department did an excellent job handling this situation,
and no one other than the suspect was injured,” he said. “Yes, I
think it’s very likely he had some degree of assistance. These
bombs that detonated immediately when the robot made contact
with them, that suggests there might be some level of
sophistication that may go beyond what this person is capable
of.” * Related:
How the Dallas police attack suspect got an armored van and Joe
Biggs reports from behind the yellow tape at the Dallas Police
shooting crime scene

House Kills Fast-Track Of Obamatrade After Pelosi-Led Democrat
Rebellion
Zero Hedge - And just like that, President Obama's fast track of
his "great job creation" bill is defeated in a 126-302
procedural vote which stumbled over what is known as the Trade
Adjustment Assistance. Following Pelosi's comments that "its
defeat is the only way we will be able to slow down fast track,"
and "people would rather have a job than assistance", the defeat
of a measure to provide aid to workers displaced by trade deals
means the fast-tracking of the TPP is done (for now).

Secret CIA effort in Syria faces large funding cut
Washington Post - Key lawmakers have moved to slash funding of a
secret CIA operation to train and arm rebels in Syria, a move
that U.S. officials said reflects rising skepticism of the
effectiveness of the agency program and the Obama
administration’s strategy in the Middle East. The House
Intelligence Committee recently voted unanimously to cut as much
as 20 percent of the classified funds flowing into a CIA program
that U.S. officials said has become one the agency’s largest
covert operations, with a budget approaching $1 billion a year.

Four Weeks Later: Waco Police Narrative Unravels
Breitbart - Four weeks after the deadly May 17th shooting
incident outside a Waco Twin Peaks restaurant, more details have
come out concerning the incident, but significant questions
still remain about the actions taken by law enforcement and the
police’s account of what transpired. Although the national
mainstream media has largely moved on from the Waco story, if
critics of the police are correct, the incident represents an
unprecedented civil rights violation and media cover-up campaign
by the Waco authorities. Police in Waco still have yet to state
how many bikers, if any, were killed by the police, or to
explain why the police showed up in force at all prior to the
meeting on May 17th.

7 Reasons Why Police are More Dangerous to Americans than ISIS
Free Thought Project - Everywhere, USA: If you think it’s absurd
to compare the men and women in blue uniform to terrorists, just
read the definition of terrorism. Terrorism: the use of violence
and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. The Free
Thought Project has compiled a list of 7 examples that shows why
comparing police to ISIS is not so crazy. In fact, it proves
that police are far more dangerous to Americans, and our
freedoms than any terrorist group on earth.

Police Seize 6 Children Simply Because Family Was Camping
Off the Grid News - A Michigan family which had dreams of
camping during the summer in the great outdoors was horrified
when state officials seized their six children simply because
they were temporarily living in tents... The nightmare
experience for Christopher and Antonia Hernandez began May 19
when Otsego County sheriff deputies and a CPS official took
their children, and ended June 10 when their children were
returned after the parents won a court ruling based on the fact
the mother and children are eligible for enrollment in the
Tlingit Native American tribe. The federal Indian Child Welfare
Act makes it more difficult for state officials to separate
Native American families. Michigan has a similar state law. If
the family had not had the Tlingit link, the case still would be
ongoing, with the children still in foster care.

Election News

Iowa GOP cancels straw poll
USA Today - The governing board for the Republican Party of Iowa
voted unanimously Friday to cancel the straw poll, a milestone
on the path to the White House that had passed the strategic
tipping point. It was no longer a political risk for
presidential campaigns to walk away from the straw poll, and too
many of the 2016 contenders had opted to skip it for it to
survive.

Economy & Business

Writing's On The Wall: Texas Pulls $1 Billion In Gold From NY
Fed, Makes It "Non-Confiscatable"
Zero Hedge - The lack of faith in central bank trustworthiness
is spreading. First Germany, then Holland, and Austria, and now
- as we noted was possible previously - Texas has enacted a Bill
to repatriate $1 billion of gold from The NY Fed's vaults to a
newly established state gold bullion depository..."People have
this image of Texas as big and powerful … so for a lot of
people, this is exactly where they would want to go with their
gold," and the Bill includes a section to prevent forced seizure
from the Federal Government.

Food Banks In New York Are Running Out Of Food
Zero Hedge - Welcome to the Recovery! Food banks across the US
state of New York are running out of food (37% of food pantries
say they have had to turn away needy people because they ran out
of food), amid falling funds and rising demand from people that
have trouble affording food. About 2.6 million people have
trouble affording food across New York with about 1.4 million
New York City residents relying on food pantries to feed
themselves, according to the Food Bank For New York City. But as
PressTV reports, contrary to the belief that people visiting
food pantries are homeless and jobless, most customers are
employed, but are not paid enough money to put food on the table
without help.

Costco Decides to Sell Controversial GM Salmon
Natural Society - As major supermarkets like Safeway, Target,
Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s refuse GM salmon, the mega store
Costco is planning on selling the genetically modified fish to
its customers while attempting to dress itself as a big organic
seller. This is odd, since Costco has just announced that it
will become one of the largest sellers of organic products in
the US, and also since Costco customers recently rallied in
Seattle to deliver more than 50,000 signatures asking the
company not to sell GM salmon.

Energy & Environment

Billionaire: $25M Prize to Solve Global Warming by
Geoengineering
The New American - Richard Branson (shown), chairman of Virgin
Group Ltd., has offered a $25-million prize for the best
solution for ending so-called global warming using
geoengineering (also called climate engineering), which is the
deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climatic
system… “Some proposals are uncontroversial, such as using
charcoal to lock carbon dioxide into soil or scattering
carbon-absorbing gemstones.” However, other proposals seem quite
bizarre, considering how environmentalists usually are so wary
of any human activity that impacts our climate.

California Water Wars Escalate: Government Orders Massive Supply
Cuts To Most Senior Rights Holders
Zero Hedge - Just two weeks after California's farmers - with
the most senior water rights - offered to cut their own water
use by 25% (in an attempt to front-run more draconian
government-imposed measures), AP reports that the California
government has - just as we predicted - ignored any efforts at
self-preservation and ordered the largest cuts on record to
farmers holding some of the state's strongest water rights.
While frackers and big energy remain exempt from the
restrictions, Caren Trgovcich, chief deputy director of the
water board, explains, "we are now at the point where demand in
our system is outstripping supply for even the most senior water
rights holders."

Drought-stricken California - Thieves hijack water tanks, siphon
private wells, illegally tap industrial pipelines
(NaturalNews) Special law enforcement task forces, believe it or
not, are reportedly being deployed throughout California to deal
with a new crime wave blossoming in what 10 years ago would have
been a rather unlikely economic sector: water. The water wars
have apparently already begun, as police battle a growing "gray
market" for stolen water, with thieves now hijacking water
tanks, siphoning private wells and even digging under city
streets to illegally tap into industrial water pipelines,
according to reports.

Science & Technology

Canadian Court: Yes, We Can Order Google To Block Websites
Globally
Techdirt - Almost exactly a year ago we wrote about a troubling
lawsuit in British Columbia, where a court ruled that Google
needed to block access to a website globally. The case involved
one company accusing another of selling counterfeit or copied
equipment, and despite Google not even being a party to the
case, said that Google needed to make sure no one could find the
site in question via Google anywhere in the world. As we noted,
this had tremendously problematic consequences. For example,
China doesn’t think anyone should be able to learn about the
protests in Tiananmen Square. Can it now order Google to remove
all links to such references globally? That result seems crazy.
And, of course, there was a separate issue of how the court even
had jurisdiction over Google, seeing as it does not have any
operations, staff or servers in British Columbia. Google stepped
in to protest the injunction at the appeals court.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

GM Moths Field Release near New York Causes Outrage
Natural Blaze - In September 2014 several of the organizations
commented on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s environmental
assessment (EA) for the proposed field release of Oxitec’s GE
diamondback moths at Cornell University. The agency did not
contact the organizations to address their myriad concerns, and
months later, the groups found out through a separate
correspondence with the USDA that the GE moth permit had been
quietly approved with no press release or other public
notification. “This release of genetically engineered autocidal
moths is the first of its kind in the United States and it sets
a very poor precedent that they were released with minimal
environmental review and transparency,” said Wenonah Hauter,
Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “The USDA’s
irresponsible management of this genetically engineered insect
is putting the environment and agriculture at risk.”

Monsanto Now Billing Itself as a “Sustainable Agriculture
Company”
Natural Society - Monsanto truly has decided to market itself as
a ‘sustainable agriculture’ company despite spending billions to
provide the world with destructive, carcinogenic chemicals. You
can see Monsanto’s propaganda piece here. The biotech giant also
says that it aims to “empower” farmers around the world, while
arguably leading to mass farmer suicides taking place all
throughout India. What’s more, Monsanto is completely wrecking
the organic farmer’s industry in the US. As far as ‘empowering’
farmers, nearly 300,000 have sued Monsanto for contaminating
their seed.

Health

AMA may force incompetent older doctors to retire even if they
don't want to
(NaturalNews) A new report by an American Medical Association
council calls for aging physicians to go into early retirement
if they cannot meet competency requirements. The new report is
being brought to the AMA's 2015 policy-making meeting in
Chicago. The report calls on younger doctors to evaluate and
vote out their older colleagues who are showing signs of age.
The reasoning behind it is that older doctors might be more
likely to make mistakes that could put patients' lives in
jeopardy.... There are currently around 240,000 physicians aged
65 and older in the U.S. If the AMA does decide to force this
group into early retirement, nearly one fourth of all the
physicians in the U.S. would no longer be able to help patients.
This would welcome a new flood of rookie physicians while
undermining the knowledge of an experienced sector of
physicians.

Systemic Candida - how to conquer and heal
(NaturalNews) Candida is a common yeast-like, parasitic fungal
infection which can become systemic when it spreads throughout
the body and impacts bodily systems. At severe levels of
infection Candida can become debilitating and even life
threatening....The key to eliminating overgrowth is restoring
the proper balance of healthy bacteria in our intestines. A
strict diet must be followed. Keep in mind, some foods that are
considered healthy are not advised while addressing Candida....
Some foods stand out as Candida fighters. Among the very best
are...

10 Incredible Use Of Baking Soda Daily as a Medicine
Natural News Blogs - Lot of people use baking soda for cooking
and cleaning, most don’t know that baking soda is a powerful
healer as well. Baking soda is a terrific home remedy that can
do everything from relieving the sting of bugs to being a super
detox agent. Baking soda rates right up there with hydrogen
peroxide as one of the safest, most effective, and most
inexpensive health tools around.

Friday
- June 12, 2015 - Today in History:

1665 - England installed a municipal government in New York. It was the
former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
1838 - The Iowa Territory was organized.
1901 - Cuba agreed to become an American protectorate by accepting the
Platt Amendment.
1918 - The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on
World War I's Western Front in France.
1921 - U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend
military training camp.
1935 - U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on
Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000
words.
1937 - The Soviet Union executed eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.
1939 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in
Cooperstown, New York.
1941 - In London, the Inter-Allied Declaration was signed. It was the
first step towards the establishment of the United Nations.
1967 - State laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled
unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1982 - 75,000 people rallied against nuclear weapons in New York City's
Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda
Ronstadt were in attendance.
1985 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved $27 million in aid to
the Nicaraguan contras.
1987 - U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to
tear down the Berlin Wall.
1992 - In a letter to the U.S. Senate, Russian Boris Yeltsin stated that
in the early 1950's the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes and
held 12 American survivors.
1997 - The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be
more counterfeit-resistant.
1998 - Compaq Computer paid $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corp. in
largest high-tech acquisition.
1999 - NATO peacekeeping forces entered the province of Kosovo in
Yugoslavia.
2003 - In Arkansas, Terry Wallis spoke for the first time in nearly 19
years. Wallis had been in a coma since July 13, 1984, after being
injured in a car accident.
2009 - In the U.S., The switch from analog TV transmission to digital
was completed.

World News

US Intelligence Forges Documents Against Iran - Envoy
Sputnik News - US intelligence services are forging documents against
Iran, Tehran’s permanent representative at the International Atomic
Energy Agency said on Thursday. Talking to the media on Thursday, Reza
Najafi he said the claims about Iran’s forbidden activities at the
country’s Marivan nuclear site were also based on these kinds of
documents, IRNA news agency reported. Iran has repeatedly said such
documents are faked and forged by the American intelligence services
against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, Reza Najafi stressed. Referring
to the claims included in the latest IAEA report about Iran’s forbidden
operations in Marivan, he said that his country had already voiced
readiness to take the IAEA inspectors to any point they wanted but
received no response from the organization.

US Refrains From Prohibiting Companies to Attend Russia's Economic Forum
Sputnik News - In 2014, US authorities called on US executives to
refrain from attending the economic forum in Russia. "The message is: If
you’re asking us, we still won’t encourage you to go, but if you don’t
ask, nothing will happen." Two executives from US companies with
operations in Russia reportedly said government officials had told them
there would be "no punishment" if the companies attended the forum.
According to The Financial Times, the chairmen of AT Kearney, Boston
Consulting Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young are among
those who are expected at the event. The chief executives of Shell, BP,
Societe Generale, Total, and Carlsberg are also expected to be present
at the St. Petersburg forum.

Japan Delays Removal of Fuel Rods From Fukushima Power Plant by 3 Years
Sputnik News - The removal of spent uranium fuel rods from the Fukushima
power plant will begin three years later compared to the originally
planned date, the Japanese government said in a roadmap published on
Friday. Initially, the removal was scheduled for the end of 2015 for
Unit 3 and for late 2017 for Units 1 and 2. Due to the high level of
radiation in the area and the difficulty of the operation, it was
decided to postpone the work for Unit 3 until 2017, and until 2020 for
the first two units. The schedule for the removal of the dangerous fuel
remains unchanged and will take place in 2021. Cleanup efforts around
Fukushima could take up to 40 years.

Activists to shut down Israeli arms factory in Gaza war anniversary
protest
RT - Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems’ UK factory will become
the target of a protest to mark the anniversary of the Gaza conflict in
July. Anti-arms trade campaigners will join forces with students unions
and pro-Palestinian groups in a bid to shut down the factory, which they
say manufactures drones.... Campaigners are calling for the UK to stop
selling arms to Israel, highlighting the state’s role in last year’s
Gaza conflict, which caused the death of over 2,200 Palestinians.

Bloomberg Coverage of Bilderberg Ignores Attendance of Bloomberg
Editor-In-Chief
Mikael Thalen - The first notable coverage of the 2015 Bilderberg
conference by media outlet Bloomberg unsurprisingly omits the attendance
of its editor-in-chief John Micklethwait. A video article entitled,
“Here’s Who’s Going to The Secret Bilderberg Summit,” which features a
brief synopsis of the group’s 63rd gathering, fails to mention the
numerous high-profile media attendees. Micklethwait, who joined
Bloomberg after stepping down as The Economist’s editor-in-chief in
2014, has been a regular attendee of the group since at least 1996.
Despite attending for the better part of two decades, Micklethwait, as
the Bloomberg video states, will remain tight-lipped due to Bilderberg’s
policy of secrecy. * Related:
Mainstream Reporters Attend Bilderberg – But WON’T Report On It

‘No progress’: IMF walks out of bailout talks with Greece
RT - International Monetary Fund representatives have cut short
negotiations with Greek officials in Brussels, after they failed to
present a viable reform plan. The move has left Athens, due to repay
€1.6 billion by the end June, on the edge of default. The ball is very
much in Greece’s court,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told the media during
a specially scheduled announcement, before his team returns to
Washington. “There are major differences between us in most key areas.
There has been no progress in narrowing these differences recently.”
With wages and pensions at 80 percent of total public spending “it’s not
possible for Greece to achieve its medium-term fiscal targets without
reforms, and especially of pensions.” Rice also told Athens to eschew
“unsustainable” tax increases, but called on Athens to collect it’s
existing VAT taxes.

IMF data shows Iceland's economy recovered after it imprisoned bankers
and let banks go bust - instead of bailing them out
Belfast Telegraph - Iceland’s finance minister has announced a 39 per
cent tax on investors looking to take their money overseas. The country
has imposed the tax to prevent it hemorrhaging money as it loosens bank
laws imposed six years ago, when Iceland made the shocking decision to
let its banks go bust. Iceland also allowed bankers to be prosecuted as
criminals – in contrast to the US and Europe, where banks were fined,
but chief executives escaped punishment. The chief executive, chairman,
Luxembourg ceo and second largest shareholder of Kaupthing, an Icelandic
bank that collapsed, were sentenced in February to between four and five
years in prison for market manipulation.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

US House Votes to Defund Warrantless NSA-CIA Communications
Collection
Sputnik News - The amendment to the annual US defense
appropriations bill would prevent the National Security Agency (NSA)
and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from searching or
collecting communications data under the controversial Section
702 program of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
without due process. The amendment would also prevent the
intelligence community from forcing US technology companies from
building in security vulnerabilities, or “backdoors,” which
allow surveillance of the companies' clientele. The FISA Section
702 program allows US intelligence agencies to siphon off
internet communications data such as e-mails, instant messages,
and web browsing history, according to the internet advocacy
group, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation.

10 countries that hate the U.S. the most
MarketWatch - Public opinion alone does not dictate foreign
policy. However, a country’s perception of another country can
have a meaningful impact on foreign policy decisions that both
governments make. Keeping global approval ratings of the U.S.
high strengthens what is called soft power, which captures how
diplomatic goals can be accomplished without military force.

Police State America sends 450 cops to illegally search people's
homes looking for escaped prisoners
MassPrivateI - In Vermont And New York Hundreds of law
enforcement officers swept through the small Adirondack
foothills town. Searchers walked shoulder to shoulder, wearing
bulletproof vests and carrying sidearms as they went through
hilly woods, fields and swamps, checking every home, garage,
shed and outbuilding, then yelling, “Clear!” when there were no
signs of the inmates. By early evening, it appeared the sweep
had come up empty, and there was no confirmation from police
that the escaped convicts had been there. State Police said more
than 450 corrections and other law enforcement officers were in
the area and planned to go door to door, checking homes and
seasonal camps.

Texas Police Shut Down Little Girls’ ‘Illegal’ Lemonade Stand,
Citing Lack Of Permit
Truth in Media - Two young sisters were forced to shut down the
lemonade stand they were running to buy their dad a Father's Day
present, after they were informed by a police officer that in
order to run the stand, they must undergo a health inspection
and obtain a Peddler's Permit.... Overton Police told KLTV that
following the exchange, a family friend went to Overton City
Hall to obtain a Peddler’s Permit for the girls. While the city
was willing to waive the $150 fee, staff members would not let
the Green sisters obtain a permit until they contacted the
health department and an inspection was conducted.

Big Pharma Revealed As Puppetmaster Behind TPP Secrecy
Zero Hedge - When it came to the highly confidential TPP, it was
unclear just which corporations were dominant in pulling the
strings. Now thanks to more documents published by Wikileaks,
and analyzed by the NYT, it appears that "big pharma" is the
mastermind behind the Trans Pacific Partnership, which if passed
will "empower big pharmaceutical firms to command higher
reimbursement rates in the United States and abroad, at the
expense of consumers" according to "public health professionals,
generic-drug makers and activists opposed to the trade deal."

Paul Ryan’s Pelosi-Esque Obamatrade Moment: ‘It’s Declassified
And Made Public Once It’s Agreed To’
Breitbart - Chief Obamatrade proponent House Ways and Means
Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted during
Congressional testimony on Wednesday evening that despite tons
of claims from him and other Obamatrade supporters to the
contrary, the process is highly secretive. He also made a gaffe
in his House Rules Committee testimony on par with former
Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s push to pass Obamacare, in
which she said infamously said: “we have to pass the bill so
that you can find out what is in it.”

Obama Administration Attempts to Tack 20 Years onto Man’s
Sentence for Possession of Books
Daily Sheeple - The Obama administration is trying to tack 20
years onto a Florida man’s tax fraud sentence for the supposed
crime of possessing books the government doesn’t like. The
Intercept reports: Now, to demonstrate that Robertson’s tax
charges merit a terrorism enhancement, the government has cited
a number of books owned by Robertson that allegedly extol
extremist beliefs. Robertson, who is recognized as an Islamic
scholar, owned a library which included roughly 10,000 e-books,
a small number of which are alleged by the government to have
contained passages deemed controversial.

Probable cause found to charge cops with murder & negligent
homicide of Tamir Rice
RT - A judge has found that there is probable cause to charge
the Cleveland, Ohio police officer accused of shooting and
killing 12-year-old Tamir Rice with murder, while his partner
could be charged with negligent homicide, according to local
news reports. A Cuyahoga County judge found probable cause to
charges against Officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback in
connection with Rice’s death. Judge Ronald B. Adrine wrote in
his judgment entry that there is cause to bring charges of
murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, negligent
homicide and dereliction of duty against Loehmann, who shot the
preteen while he was playing with a toy gun at a recreation
center playground in November.

11 Year Old Boy Kidnapped By CPS, Parents Arrested, After He
Played In Back Yard Alone For 90 Minutes
Steve Watson - A couple in Florida were arrested and charged
with felony neglect after their 11-year-old son was left alone
in the back yard playing basketball for 90 minutes. Furthermore,
the child was taken from the parents and placed into foster
care. The remarkable story was related to the website Free Range
Kids, which advocates raising children to be self reliant,
rather than succumbing to the nanny state. The boy found himself
locked out of the family home in April, after the parents became
stuck in traffic. A busy body neighbor decided that this was far
too dangerous, and called the cops.

Economy & Business

Lawmakers seek to cut federal gas tax, give states control over
transportation spending
RT - Even as gas prices have fallen of late, two Republican
lawmakers want to make gas even cheaper. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah
and Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida introduced a bill that would
gradually eliminate the gas tax that funds federal
transportation projects. The two men unveiled their bill, called
the Transportation Empowerment Act (TEA), on Wednesday. They
propose cutting the current gas tax by 16.4 cents per gallon to
just 3.7 cents over the next five years. It would also transfer
the responsibility for transportation projects that are
currently funded by the gas tax to the states, which Lee and
DeSantis said would allow the states to eliminate “restrictive
and costly red tape imposed by the federal government.”

Rail to Nowhere: House Votes to Cut Some High-Speed Train
Spending
Breitbart - U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), chairman of the House
rail subcommittee, has proposed an amendment that could cripple
plans for the construction of California’s high-speed rail
project. Denham’s amendment would eliminate a 2012 agreement
between California and the Obama administration that permitted
the state to obtain federal grant money without matching those
funds with money from state coffers.... Denham said on the floor
of the House Tuesday night, “We are $87 billion short. The
governor’s not proposing $87 billion. The president’s not
proposing $87 billion. So, we’re really leaving the state of
California at risk,” according to KCRA.

'Who' Really Runs Your State?
Zero Hedge - A state's economy is nothing without the businesses
that call it home. However, these companies are not created
equally - bigger businesses naturally have outsized influence,
generating more revenue, employing more people and (at least
theoretically) paying more taxes. So given that corporations are
now 'people', who really runs your state in this
crony-capitalist land of the free?

Housing Market

How Obama Will Centrally-Plan Your Neighborhood: Here Comes The
"Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" Rule
Zero Hedge - Because centrally-planning the market and the double
seasonally-adjusted economy was not enough, the Obama administration is
now set to create a wealth-adjusted community utopia. According to The
Hill, the administration is moving forward with regulations designed to
help diversify America’s wealthier neighborhoods, such as building
affordable housing in more affluent areas. The name of Obama's latest
proposal to have the government centrally-plan your community? The
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. A name that only the person
who penned the US Freedom Act could have come up with.

Energy & Environment

New Jersey Fights USA Over Fish
Courthouse News - New Jersey sued the United States to try to
stop tests involving offshore "powerful sonic blasts every five
seconds for thirty days" during prime fishing season.... The
defendants want to fire high-energy seismic blasts from a
research vessel every 5.4 seconds into the ocean floor for about
a month. New Jersey says the blasts will be felt "far outside of
the study area" and will reduce commercial and recreational
catch and harass marine mammals.

Owner of Biggest U.S. Coal Mine May Lack Insurance for Mine
Cleanup, Dumping $1.4 Billion Risk onto Taxpayers
AllGov - An investigation by Reuters has shown that Peabody does
not have the financial resources to self-bond. That means if the
world’s largest private coal company goes belly up, the federal
government would have to step in and help pay to clean up
Peabody’s mines, which would cost about $1.38 billion, Reuters
reported. When companies abandon a strip mine, they’re required
to replant vegetation, restore topsoil “to match the original
topography,” and rebuild the original surface ecosystem,
according to ThinkProgress.

Science & Technology

Far Worse Than Acknowledged: Hackers Got Social Security Numbers
for Every US Federal Employee, Union Says
Sputnik News - The massive data breach into federal agencies
announced last week may have gone even deeper than previously
acknowledged. Whoever breached the US Office of Personnel
Management may have stolen the personal data of every federal
employee. According to a federal employee union, hackers may
have gained vital information, including Social Security
numbers, on every employee of the federal government. That data
includes military records and veterans status information,
addresses, birth dates, job and payment histories, health
insurance, life insurance, and pension information. It also
includes age, gender, and race data, according to a letter sent
to OPM Director Katherine Archuleta by J. David Cox, president
of the American Federal of Government Employees. That letter was
obtained by the Associated Press.

Patriot Act Reform Curbed NSA; Cybersecurity Bill Would Empower
It
The Intercept - Critics say that if the USA Freedom Act was a
major step forward, passing the CISA cybersecurity bill would be
taking two steps back. Only a week after Congress passed reforms
to the Patriot Act ending the National Security Agency’s
metadata phone collection program, Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, with the help of big business allies, is moving to
expand domestic surveillance of a different type. On Tuesday,
McConnell and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., announced plans to
attach the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act to the National
Defense Authorization Act. (Update: On Tuesday afternoon,
McConnell failed to get the 60 votes necessary to proceed with
that particular way of passing the act.)

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Farmers Are Starting To Ditch GMO Soybeans
Christina Sarich - If a Roundup Ready variety of soybeans might
cost $65 to $70 a bag, and conventional, non-GMO varieties are
$30 to $35 a bag, you would think farmers would be eschewing GMO
beans. An agronomist with the Division of Agriculture at the
University of Arkansas is planting nine non-GM soybeans on his
test plots, four developed by the University.... The seed is
cheaper, and in the long run will be better for farmers for the
simplest reason of all: cost.

Health

It's Always the Oxygen...Really
Green Med Info - The most important medicine is invisible,
mostly free and usually overlooked. Natural therapies can help
keep your body healthy on a cellular level. Think of life in the
ocean or an aquarium. Our bodies are just bags of "seawater"
full of aquatic cells. The water matrix must be well oxygenated
to support fish and cells alike. Oxygen delivery depends on a
well charged "inner ocean," and generating that charge depends
on oxygen delivery. Real simple. Call me Capt. Obvious.

10 Of The Most Common Signs 30 Days Before A Heart Attack
April McCarthy - Women generally have a much harder time than
men when it comes to heart attacks. Women are more likely than
men to die, be permanently disabled, or have a second attack
within a year, yet a very insignificant amount of information is
provided to women by their doctors and gynecologists to prevent
heart attacks. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of U.S. men and
women, accounting for 40% of all U.S. deaths. That's more than
all forms of cancer combined. Here are the 10 most common signs
to look out for.

Thursday
- June 11, 2015 - Today in History:
1770 - Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off of
Australia when he ran aground.
1776 - In America, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft
a Declaration of Independence from Britain.
1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte took the island of Malta.
1889 - The Washington Business High School opened in Washington, DC. It
was the first school devoted to business in the U.S.
1927 - Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying
Cross.
1930 - William Beebe dived to a record-setting depth of 1,426 feet off
the coast of Bermuda. He used a diving chamber called a bathysphere.
1940 - The Italian Air Force bombed the British fortress at Malta in the
Mediterranean.
1942 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to
aid the Soviets in their effort in World War II.
1943 - During World War II, the Italian island of Pantelleria
surrendered after a heavy air bombardment.
1947 - The U.S. government announced an end to sugar rationing.
1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to
integrate restaurants.
1963 - Alabama Gov. George Wallace allowed two black students to enroll
at the University of Alabama.
1967 - Israel and Syria accepted a U.N. cease-fire.
1981 - The first major league baseball player's strike began. It would
last for two months.
1987 - Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160
years to win a third consecutive term of office.
1991 - Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The eruption of ash
and gas could be seen for more than 60 miles.
1993 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit "hate crimes"
could be sentenced to extra punishment. The court also ruled in favor of
religious groups saying that they indeed had a constitutional right to
sacrifice animals during worship services.
1998 - Mitsubishi of America agreed to pay $34 million to end the
largest sexual harassment case filed by the U.S. government. The federal
lawsuit claimed that hundreds of women at a plant in Normal, IL, had
endured groping and crude jokes from male workers.
2001 - Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection for the 1995 Oklahoma
City bombing that killed 168 people.
2009 - The World Health Organization declared the swine flu outbreak a
pandemic.

World News

US Secret Military Biolabs at Russian Border Arouse Grave Concern -
Moscow
Sputnik News - Moscow is extremely concerned over the US deployment of
medical-biological laboratories near the Russian border, the Russian
Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. The Foreign Ministry said
that the US Richard G. Lugar Public Health Research Center in Tbilisi,
Georgia, is a high level biological isolation laboratory. The laboratory
is overseen by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Moscow says that
a branch of the Walter Reed US Army Medical Research Institute is
operating under the Lugar Research Center’s roof. “The US and Georgian
authorities are taking efforts to cover the true contents and direction
of their activity in the US Army’s military branch, which is studying
especially dangerous and infectious diseases. The Pentagon is trying to
camouflage its military medical-biological facilities in other CIS
countries,” the statement continues.

Iran nuclear talks venues hit by $10mn ‘state-sponsored’ virus –
Kaspersky to RT
RT - The venues of Iranian nuclear talks were targeted by sophisticated
spyware, which costs “at least $10 million” and was likely
“state-sponsored,” the CEO Kaspersky Lab exclusively told RT. He said
his company came under threat as well. Among the hacks primary targets
were hotels and conference halls where P5+1 powers (US, UK, France,
China, Russia and Germany) held talks with Iran on its nuclear program.

German Banker: Obama Is Destroying Europe
Washington's Blog - Interviewed on June 6th by German Economic News, the
chief economist at Bremer Landesbank, Folker Hellmeyer, says that
because of Obama’s sanctions against Russia, German exports declined
year-over-year by 18% in 2014, and by 34% in the first two months of
2015 (no later figures), but he asserts that “The damage is much more
comprehensive than these statistics show,” because those are only the
“primary losses,” and there are in addition “secondary effects,” which
get even worse over time.

ISIS may have enough material to make a "dirty" WMD, experts warn
The Independent - The Isis militant group has seized enough radioactive
material from government facilities to suggest it has the capacity to
build a large and devastating “dirty” bomb, according to Australian
intelligence reports. Isis declared its ambition to develop weapons of
mass destruction in the most recent edition of its propaganda magazine
Dabiq, and Indian defence officials have previously warned of the
possibility the militants could acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.
According to the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, Nato has
expressed deep concerns about the materials seized by Isis from research
centres and hospitals that would normally only be available to
governments.

Bilderberg Deploys Hi-Tech Jamming to Shut Down Communications (Video)
Paul Joseph Watson - The secretive Bilderberg Group has deployed a
hi-tech jamming system to shut down communications around the site of
the elitist confab’s luxury hotel in order to strangle media coverage of
the event. After visiting one of the closest spots to the InterAlpen
hotel that is still accessible, Infowars filmed a communications truck
owned by the Federal Ministry for Transport and Technology. Large
antennas are also visible on top of the hotel, as well as a giant newly
erected mast in the forest near the hotel.... Apparently, Bilderberg is
so afraid of media coverage, that police checkpoints miles away from the
hotel are not enough, now they have resorted to installing expensive
devices which shut down communications, presumably at taxpayer expense.

Number of People Infected With MERS in South Korea Rises to 122
Sputnik News - The number of people infected with the Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea rose from 108 to 122, the
country’s Health and Welfare Ministry said Thursday. The number of
people quarantined exceeded 3,400, with 2,200 educational facilities
closed across the country over fears of the disease spreading
further.... Hong Kong earlier issued a red alert advisory against trips
to South Korea. Russia's Far East regions began thorough health checks
of those arriving from South Korea.

China Launches Internet Police, Governments Everywhere Jealous
Activist Post - On June 1 China’s Ministry of Public Security announced
the formation of an Internet police force that would actively patrol
social media. For Chinese citizens it was official confirmation of what
they already knew—the government is monitoring their speech. Dubbed
“Internet Police Inspection and Law Enforcement,” the program consists
of a network of social media accounts tasked with, among other things,
preventing the spread of “improper” words and detecting “illegal and
harmful information.”

West African Country Dumps Monsanto’s GM Cotton, Seeks Compensation
Natural Society - Due to ‘disappointing yields and poor quality cotton
fiber,” the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa is ditching
Monsanto’s genetically modified cotton. Jeune Afrique reports that
Interprofessional Cotton in Burkina Faso has decided to phase out the
use of Monsanto’s GMO cotton seeds over the next three years. This is a
group of cotton farmers, banks, research institutions, private
stakeholders and the government.... All of these groups have complained
that Monsanto’s GM cotton did not produce quality cotton fiber, and
farmers have experienced lower yields than with non-GM cotton.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Pentagon Expands Plans to Aid US States After ‘Complex
Catastrophes’
Sputnik News - The Department of Defense is stepping up its
capability to assist civic authorities following any complex
catastrophe covering multiple US states, the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report. The Department
of Defense is stepping up its capability to assist civic
authorities following any complex catastrophe covering multiple
US states, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a
new report.... “It is critical that the Department of Defense
proactively and regularly engage with a broad range of
interagency partners it may need to support, such as the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Customs and Border
Protection,” the GAO explained.

US Congress Proposal Would Cut Funding for 8,000 UN Peacekeepers
Sputnik News - A Republican budget plan to cut US support for UN
international peacekeeping operations would leave 8,000
peacekeepers in various global hot spots unfunded, Office of
Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan said in a letter to
US House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers.... “The
reductions in the bill, which impact every active mission, would
not only undercut the US Government's commitment to paying its
UN dues in full and on time, but translate into nearly 8,000
fewer peacekeepers in some of the most vulnerable parts of the
world,” Donovan said in the letter on Wednesday.

Yet Another Anti-Supplement Sneak Attack from Blumenthal and
Durbin —This time it’s been slipped into a defense bill. Major
Action Alert!
Alliance for Natural Health - The bill this time is the National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an appropriations bill to fund
the military for FY 2016. The House passed its version of the
bill in May. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced what is called
“an amendment in the nature of a substitute” to create a Senate
version of the House-passed bill. The Blumenthal/Durbin
amendments were introduced on top of the McCain legislation.
Because it is a defense bill, the Blumenthal/Durbin amendments
pertain to the supplement use of the US armed forces. There are
three amendments....

'Profits over public health': Secret TPP Healthcare Annex
published by WikiLeaks
RT - WikiLeaks published more secret documents from the
controversial TPP agreement on Wednesday. The leaked drafts
concerning healthcare in the US have activists worried the
agreement might play into the hands of big pharmaceutical
companies. The secret Trans-Pacific Paternship (TPP)
negotiations showed that the Healthcare Annex has been seeking
to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices.
WikiLeaks said "it forces healthcare authorities to give big
pharmaceutical companies more information about national
decisions on public access to medicine." Related:

US Congress Holds Classified Hearing to Investigate DoD’s
Anthrax Shipments
Sputnik News - “We are conducting thorough oversight and will
continue to do so,” Congressman Jim Langevin said on Wednesday
before a classified briefing with Pentagon officials. House
Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry told the press
that Congress requested the classified briefing on the anthrax
scare to better understand the cause of the accident. “This is
something you have got to take very seriously. Something did not
go right, and we have to find out what did not go right,”
Thornberry stated.

CA Vaccine Bill Passes Health Committee, Heads to Full Assembly
for Final Vote
Daily Sheeple - The state’s controversial and tyrannical
mandatory vaccine bill has jumped another hurdle on its path to
becoming law.... California lawmakers approved the bill, which
requires all schoolchildren be vaccinated before being permitted
to attend public or PRIVATE schools unless they have a MEDICAL
exemption.... The bill was approved after five hours of
emotional testimony from hundreds of opponents.

Grave concern: US medical examiners can keep organs from dead
bodies, NY court rules
RT - Medical examiners don't have to return all organs from
autopsied bodies to the deceased person's family, New York's
Appeals Court ruled on Wednesday. The decision also added that
it is not necessary to inform relatives if any body parts are
missing. A verdict allowing city coroners to return the body
with missing organs for burial after performing an autopsy was
ruled on in New York, AP reported. The appeals court had
reversed a lower court's decision, which involved a family who
unknowingly buried their son with parts of his body missing.
"There is simply no legal directive that requires a medical
examiner to return organs or tissue samples derived from a
lawful autopsy and retained by the medical examiner after such
an autopsy," NY Daily News quoted Judge Eugene Pigott as saying.

Election News

Bilderberg chooses Hillary Clinton for 2016?
Global Research - Perhaps the biggest piece of news coming out
of Austria and Bilderberg 2015 so far is the fact that a major
Hillary Clinton advisor is on the list and set to attend.
Longtime Clinton friend and ally Jim Messina of The Messina
Group will be attending the globalist conference where the
globalist favorite for United States 2016 election will surely
be decided. This news indicates that the powers that be have
most likely decided to back Clinton for President.

Veteran News

New Pentagon Plan Would Cut Future Military Pensions by 20%
Sputnik News - A proposal by the US Department of Defense
submitted to Congress would reduce military pensions by 20
percent after troops complete their 20 years of duty. For the
first time, members of the US armed services will automatically,
upon entry, contribute to their retirement plan from their
current compensation, according to the white paper. “Future
Service members will receive 80% of the current defined benefit
(pension) if they serve for 20 years,” the six-page white paper
sent to legislators on Wednesday said.

Economy & Business

‘You’re Fired – Now Train Your Much Cheaper Foreign Replacement’
Economic Collapse - If you were laid off from your job, would
you be willing to train your replacement if your company
threatened to take away your severance pay if you didn’t do it?
And how would you feel if your replacement came from India, and
the only reason your company was replacing you was because the
foreign worker was a lot less expensive? Sadly, this is
happening all over America – especially in the information
technology field. Huge corporations such as Disney and Southern
California Edison are coldly firing existing tech workers and
filling those jobs with much cheaper foreign replacements. They
are doing this by blatantly abusing the H-1B temporary worker
visa program. Workers that had been doing a solid job for
decades are being replaced without any hesitation just because
it will save those firms a little bit of money. There is very,
very little loyalty left in corporate America today.

Energy & Environment

California Oil Spill Cleanup Stretches On, Costing $3 Million
Per Day
Sputnik News - The cost of cleaning up the massive oil spill on
the Southern California coast last month has already cost a
whopping $62 million dollars, and is going to cost a whole lot
more - at $3 million a day and no estimate on a date for the
cleanup completion. The spilling of up to 101,000 gallons of
crude oil was caused by a pipeline break near Santa Barbara on
May 19 and was the largest of its kind in 25 years. The cause of
the leak has not yet been determined, but extensive external
corrosion was found along sections of the pipeline during
testing in early May.

Obama Expands Refuge to Stop Oil Drilling–Where No Oil Exists
Breitbart - To buy peace with climate change activists after the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that oil
fracking does not poison water, President Obama has signed an
executive order tripling the size of the Farallones National
Marine Sanctuary, just north of San Francisco. The order bans
oil drilling in the area Obama renamed the “Greater” Farallones
National Marine Sanctuary. The move is merely symbolic, since
there are no oil reserves in the area.

Science & Technology

New WiFi Tracking System Counts People - Even Without a
Connected Device
Activist Post - A little more than two years ago, the first
enhancement of Wi-Fi was labeled WiTrack. It marked an
improvement over a discovery by MIT researchers a few months
previous that they had called Wi-Vi. At the time, researchers
were able to use dual signals to detect the general location of
moving objects behind walls, but not an exact image. WiTrack
uses radio signals to pinpoint a person's location more
accurately.... Researchers think the Wi-Vi system could also be
used to find survivors in destroyed buildings or count and track
criminals... MIT later announced that they had "perfected" a
system which can track multiple people through walls, as well as
breathing and heart rate, to 99% accuracy.

Health

Scientists: Lack of Good Gut Bacteria Could Be Giving You Cancer
Natural Society - Recent research suggests that some cancers are
in fact bacteria-related diseases, and may develop due to a
microbial imbalance within the body. For many years now it has
been widely known that smoking, certain dietary factors,
obesity, and many other factors are major contributors to cancer
incidence. However, a growing body of research has shown that
specific changes in the intestinal flora, or dysbiosis, can be
found in the stools or on the colonic walls of patients with
diseases such as colon cancer. This has led to hypotheses
suggesting that cancers such as colon cancer are in fact
bacteria-related diseases, with some species being referred to
as “drivers,” and others “promoters.”

The first all-vegetarian drive-thru plans to open later this
month in California
True Activist - Fans of Amy’s Kitchen – a well-known vegetarian
frozen food chain – will be pleased to know that the company is
planning on opening the world’s first all-vegetarian drive-thru
later this month.... The menu for the drive thru will include
gluten and dairy-free meals like tortillas, pizzas (in a rice or
wheat crust), and burgers, all vegetarian and all cooked to
order with fresh ingredients. The weather doesn’t always
cooperate, so one of the most challenging parts of our business
right now is the agricultural end,” disclosed Berliner, who has
50 people in the company working on finding just the right
ingredients from farmers 18 months in advance.... And even
though more work will be required to keep the food fresh, the
price is competitive to other establishments.

This Vaccine Can Impair Your Dog's Immune System
Dr. Becker - Earlier this year, a local ABC affiliate in Chicago, ABC7
Eyewitness News, decided to investigate dog owner claims (no mention of
how many) that vaccine side effects had caused harm to their pets.
According to Julie Harding, owner of a 4-year-old Vizsla, her pet
suddenly became violent and vicious, foamed at the mouth, thrashed
about, and suffered unexplained seizures. The woman took her dog, Piper,
to a veterinary neurologist who diagnosed her with autoimmune
meningitis.... The veterinary neurologist asked Harding if her dog had
been vaccinated recently, and learned that indeed, Piper had just
received the leptospirosis vaccine. The neurologist noted in Piper’s
paperwork that her brain swelling could have been triggered by the
vaccine and her predisposition to allergic conditions.

Wednesday
- June 10, 2015 - Today in History:

1776 - The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a
Declaration of Independence.
1801 - The North African State of Tripoli declared war on the U.S. The
dispute was over merchant vessels being able to travel safely through
the Mediterranean.
1854 - The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, held its first
graduation.
1898 - U.S. Marines landed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1903 - Binney & Smith Company began developing a product line of wax
crayons. The product was named Crayola.
1909 - The SOS distress signal was used for the first time. The Cunard
liner SS Slavonia used the signal when it wrecked off the Azores.
1933 - Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were in a car accident on a rural
road in north Texas. The third-degree burns suffered by Parker resulted
in a pronounced limp for the rest of her life.
1943 - The Allies began bombing Germany around the clock.
1970 - A fifteen-man group of special forces troops began training for
Operation Kingpin. The operation was a POW rescue mission in North
Vietnam.
1984 - The U.S. Army successfully tested an antiballistic missile.
1984 - The United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic
relations for the first time in 117 years.
1985 - The Israeli army pulled out of Lebanon after 1,099 days of
occupation.
1994 - U.S. President Clinton intensified sanctions against Haiti's
military leaders. U.S. commercial air travel was suspended along with
most financial transactions between Haiti and the U.S.
1998 - The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that poor children in Milwaukee
could attend religious schools at taxpayer expense.
1999 - NATO suspended air strikes in Yugoslavia after Slobodan Milosevic
agreed to withdraw his forces from Kosovo.

World News

Oil prices rise, on higher Saudi Arabian output due to strong demand
RT - Oil prices are at their highest for a month on Wednesday after
Saudi Arabia said it had raised output over the past three months in
response to stronger global demand. It refuted media report it was
pumping more to compensate for lower prices. Brent futures for July were
up $1.15 cents trading at $66.03 a barrel at 13:10 MSK. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) was up $1.30 at $61.44 a barrel.

Nuclear power station cancer warning: Breast cancer rates are FIVE TIMES
higher at Welsh plant - and twice as high at Essex and Somerset sites,
experts reveal
Daily Mail - In three separate studies, a team of scientists looked at
the rates of various cancers in populations living close to Trawsfynydd
power station in North Wales, Bradwell in Essex and Hinkley Point in
Somerset. They discovered breast cancer rates, in particular, were
higher than expected national averages at all three sites. At
Trawsfynydd, rates of the disease were five times greater than average,
while in Essex and Somerset women had double the risk of developing
breast cancer.... The prevailing winds at the site are south westerly
and more than 90 per cent of those living downwind of the power station
were surveyed by researchers working for Dr Busby.

US accuses Russia of missile violations to cover Europe deployment plans
– Moscow
RT - The US is ramping up the controversy over alleged violations of a
key missile ban treaty to cover up its own plans to deploy missiles in
Europe, a top Russian military official said. Deputy Defense Minister
Anatoly Antonov was commenting on a reported plan by the US to deploy
nuclear-capable intermediate-range cruise missiles in Europe and Asia
targeting Russian territory. The plan was cited by AP, which said it was
penned by the office of US General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US
Joint Chiefs of Staff and contained several contingencies for a scenario
in which a key missile treaty between US and Russia fails.

NATO starts ‘very high readiness’ force drills in Poland
RT - NATO’s newly formed rapid response force; designed to strengthen
the “defensive” alliance’s eastern borders against the perceived Russian
threat, has launched its first full deployment military drills in
Poland. This is the first full deployment of the new force,” NATO
spokesman, Polish Colonel Marek Pietrzak, told AFP. The Noble Jump 2
exercises at the Zagan training range in the north west of Poland will
last until June 19. It is featuring some 2,100 soldiers from nine NATO
states. The servicemen form the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF),
created last year at the NATO Summit in the UK, is in response to a
perceived Russian threat.

Major TTIP vote at European Parliament postponed due to 'political
divisions'
RT - A key vote on the controversial TTIP resolution was postponed by
European Parliament last minute on Tuesday. While a large number of
amendments have been cited as the reason for the delay, some believe the
"mounting public pressure" is "bearing fruit." The plenary Wednesday
vote on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) resolution
was postponed by the European Parliament's president on Tuesday evening.
The vote on the controversial report following the ongoing EU-US TTIP
trade and investment negotiations will not take place "in view of the
fact that more than 200 amendments and requests for split or separate
votes have been tabled," President of the European Parliament Martin
Schulz announced. * Related:
Grassroots Pressure Kills EU’s ‘Corporatist’ Trade Deal… Farage: ‘I’ve
Never Seen Anything Like It’

The PetroYuan Is Born: Gazprom Now Settling All Crude Sales To China In
Renminbi
Zero Hedge - Western economic sanctions on Russia have pushed domestic
oil producers to settle crude exports to China in yuan just as Russian
oil is rising as a percentage of total Chinese crude imports. Meanwhile,
the collapse in crude prices led to the first net outflow of
petrodollars from financial markets in 18 years, and if Goldman's
projections prove correct, the net supply of petrodollars could fall by
nearly $900 billion over the next three years. All of this comes as
China is making a concerted push to settle loans from its newly-created
infrastructure funds in renminbi. Putting it all together, the PetroYuan
represents the intersection of a dying petrodollar and an ascendant
renminbi.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Pentagon: We sent live anthrax to UK lab
RT - An unnamed UK company received a batch of samples with
unsafe levels of anthrax in 2007, bringing up the number of
facilities that were shipped the deadly bacteria from the US to
68, according to the US Department of Defense. "The company has
informed us it destroyed samples shortly after testing," said a
statement from the UK Health and Safety Executive.

The Pentagon Doesn’t Know What it Spent 8.5 Trillion Dollars on
Blacklisted News - When government is completely dysfunctional
and seems not to serve the people’s interests, we have to wonder
where our tax dollars are going. Thanks to a Reuters
investigation by Scot Paltrow, we have an answer—or, rather, a
non-answer. Apparently, the Pentagon has made use of $8.5
trillion of our tax money handed over by Congress since 1996—but
don’t ask what was done with the money. The Department of
Defense doesn’t have a clue.... In almost 20 years, the Pentagon
has never accounted for trillions it spent, in part because
“plugging”—fudging the numbers—is standard operating procedure.

Say What? Obama Claims He Reinstated US as World’s Most
Respected Country
Sputnik News - During a news briefing, President Barack Obama
had some strong words of encouragement for himself: now that
former president Bush is gone, the world loves America again! Of
course, when you actually survey global citizens, the US is
still far from being the most respected nation on Earth....
"…Today, once again, the United States is the most respected
country on Earth," he said during a news briefing last week.
"Part of that, I think, is the work that we did to reengage the
world, and that ‘We want to work with you as partners, with
mutual interest and mutual respect." Which is all well and good,
until you look at the figures for last year.

The Supreme Court May Have Just Banned Using A Gun In Your Home
— And Virtually No One Noticed
Off the Grid News - Local governments now have the right to tell
you how to store your guns thanks to the inaction of the US
Supreme Court. The court Monday refused to hear an appeal of a
US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a San
Francisco ordinance requiring owners in their own home either to
store firearms in a locked container or disable them with
trigger locks when not in use. Gun owners can wear the gun in a
holster, but other than that, the gun must be put away.... The
court’s ruling means that the San Francisco ordinance and
similar laws in states and territories in the Ninth Circuit can
be enforced. The Ninth Circuit covers Hawaii, Alaska,
California, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and
Washington state.

McKinney police officer resigns following ‘indefensible’ actions
at pool party
Washington Post - The Texas police officer at the center of a
controversial video that showed him forcefully handcuffing and
drawing his gun on a group of black teenagers at a pool party
last weekend has resigned, the city’s police chief announced
Tuesday. McKinney Police Cpl. Eric Casebolt, who was under
investigation, “resigned on his own will,” police Chief Greg
Conley said at a news conference. He called Casebolt’s actions
“indefensible.”... But a decision hasn’t yet been made regarding
possible criminal charges, Conley said, according to the AP.

Kalief Browder, Jailed at Rikers as a Teen for 3 Years Without
Trial, Kills Himself
Activist Post - Kalief Browder, the young man who was held for
years in New York’s Rikers Island prison as a teen without trial
or conviction, killed himself on Saturday. In 2014, Jennifer
Gonnerman of The New Yorker brought attention to Browder’s
plight with her poignant article titled "Before the Law."
Browder ended up in one of America’s most corrupt and violent
prisons after being accused – at age 16 – of stealing a backpack
on May 15, 2010. Because his family was unable to raise his
$10,000 bail and because of repeated court delays and an
overwhelmed system, Browder was forced to endure three years of
hell – including beatings and deprivation of food – at Rikers
Island waiting for a trial that never happened. He refused to
accept several plea deals on principle, maintaining his
innocence throughout his entire ordeal.

Veteran News

Homeless Vets Move Into Swanky Apartments in L.A.
Breitbart - “When I walked into this building,” the Army veteran
said, “it was like one of those movies when you walk through a
cloud and you’re like: ‘Whoa! Wow!’ Everything was state of the
art, brand new.” That was Keith Hudson’s reaction when he looked
inside his new home at the Veteran Affairs campus in West Los
Angeles. Before that, the fifty-two-year-old was living on the
streets, homeless for years, mired in depression and
alcoholism.... The facility administrators hope to provide
effective job training to help launch the veterans into
permanent jobs and permanent housing off of the campus. While
they are living on campus, they will be compensated for the work
they do. Right now Hudson is a housekeeper in the WLA VA
hospital, but he hopes to pursue his old career as a paralegal.

Economy & Business

HSBC To Fire 50,000, One In Five Jobs, To Fund Dividends To
Shareholders
Zero Hedge - Just days after JPMorgan revealed it would fire
another 5,000 by the end of the year... HSBC unleashed the
"machete" and announced it would cut almost 50,000 workers, or
one in five bankers, a move which would shrink the investment
bank division by one-third. The reason: the same why US
corporations are laying off tens of thousands so they can fund
record stock buybacks and enrich their shareholders - to boost
profits so that more money can be channeled in the form of
dividends.

Student Debt Cancellations Begin: Government To "Forgive" $3.6
Billion After Corinthian Closure
Zero Hedge - The Department of Education says it will forgive
federal student loans made to Corinthian Colleges students who
can prove they were victims of fraud. The potential cost to
taxpayers: nearly $4 billion. With the precedent thus set, the
question now is whether continued pressure on for-profit
colleges will result in further closures and more petitions from
hundreds of thousands of students with hundreds of billions of
loans they now know can be legally discharged.

Hospitals Are Blatantly Ripping Us Off
Economic Collapse - In America today, hospitals and doctors are
blatantly ripping us off and they aren’t making any apologies
for it. As you will read about below, some hospitals mark up
treatments by 1,000 percent. In other instances, basic medical
supplies are being billed out at hundreds of times what they
cost providers. For example, it has been reported that some
hospitals are charging up to 30 dollars for a single aspirin
pill. It would be difficult to argue that the extreme greed that
we see in the medical system is even matched by the crooks on
Wall Street. These medical predators get their hands on us when
we are at our most vulnerable. They know that in our lowest
moments we are willing to pay just about anything to get better
or to make the pain go away. And so they very quietly have us
sign a bunch of forms without ever telling us how much
everything is going to cost.

Federal Court Tells Postal Service its Temporary Rate Increase
must be…Temporary
AllGov - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit ruled last week that USPS’s emergency price increase of
4.3%, in place since January 2014, cannot last forever. The
increase raised the price of stamps from 46 cents to 49 cents.
Postal service officials asked for and got the bump from the
Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), which oversees USPS,
claiming it needed to recover some of the revenues lost during
the Great Recession. The agency said its regular rate increase,
based on inflation, wasn’t enough of a revenue generator. The
increase came with a cap on how much money the USPS could
recover, which is scheduled to be hit this summer. When postal
officials asked to make the increase permanent, the PRC turned
them down.... Right now it’s unclear when rates might be rolled
back. So don’t buy any more of those “Forever” stamps than you
have to.

Energy & Environment

Fracking Has Contaminated Drinking Water In Eleven States, EPA
Study
GovSlaves - After years of asserting that hydraulic fracturing
has never tainted drinking water, the Obama administration
issued a long-awaited study of the controversial oil and gas
production technique that confirmed “specific instances” when
fracking “led to impacts on drinking water resources, including
contamination of drinking water wells.” The conclusion was
central to a nearly 1,000-page draft assessment issued Thursday
by the Environmental Protection Agency to address public
concerns about the possible effects of fracking on drinking
water.... Still, the EPA determined that the number of
contamination cases “was small compared to the number of
hydraulically fractured wells.” * Related:
U.S. Natural Gas Price Collapsing after EPA Says Fracking Safe

Science & Technology

U.S. tech companies expected to lose more than $35 billion due
to NSA spying
Daily Dot - U.S. companies will likely lose more than $35
billion in foreign business as a result of the vast NSA-surveillance
operations revealed by Edward Snowden, according to a new report
from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
"Foreign customers are shunning U.S. companies," the report
asserts, causing American businesses to lose out on foreign
contracts and pushing other countries to create protectionist
policies that block American businesses out of foreign markets.

NEC develops way to ID everyday objects
The Japan Times - Envision a container filled with tens of
thousands of metal screws made from the same mold. Is it
possible to tell one from another? Yes, with NEC Corp.’s
“fingerprint of things” technology — a new development in the
field of forensic authentication.... Tokyo-based NEC claimed in
November that it had developed the world’s first technology that
can identify common industrial parts like bolts and zippers
through microscopic surface patterns. Although mass-produced
products look smooth and identical to the naked eye, they are
different under the microscope because even items cast from the
same molds bear unique surface patterns. NEC’s technology stores
those patterns in a database so industrial items can be
identified quickly from enlarged smartphone photos. This can
help determine where and when an item was made, expediting
monitoring and tracing without the need for barcodes, serial
numbers or other physical tags.

7 Little-Know ‘Superfoods’ You Can Find In Your Backyard
Off the Grid News - Some of the most common weeds in American
lawns and gardens are not only safe to eat, but they are packed
with antioxidants, protein and vitamins. The main rule of thumb
is to avoid any plants that may have been exposed to pesticides
or other chemicals and to wash your plants thoroughly before
consuming. Here is a list of the top seven edible weeds.

Use these water-saving gardening techniques to survive a
"mega-drought"
(NaturalNews) ... in this article I'd like to give you some tips
for drought gardening techniques and also some general methods
of reducing water waste. Even if you have no water restrictions
in your area, you'll save money and help the environment by
incorporating these in your landscaping and gardening routine.

Health

Cabbage Beats Chemo For Cervical Cancer
Green Med Info - In a study published in the journal Cancer,
UCLA researchers showed that radiation actually makes breast
cancer cells MORE malignant. They found that radiation kills
about half of the tumor cells treated. But radiation also
transforms other cells into "induced breast cancer stem cells."
Though cancer stem cells make up less than 5 percent of a tumor,
they can regenerate the original tumor. In fact, these new stem
cells are up to 30 times more likely to form tumors compared to
cancer cells that didn't get radiation. CSCs can also migrate
through blood vessels spreading cancer to secondary
locations.... Now researchers from South Dakota State University
have found that a compound in cruciferous vegetables like
broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower may target those cancer stem
cells. In fact, it may help prevent the recurrence and spread of
some cancers.

Major Vermont Hospital to Cut GMOs from Menu
Natural Society - Many have questioned whether hospitals are
really conducive to healing since they serve pesticide-ridden
GMOs to their patients as they recover from some of the same
illnesses that GMOs create, but one medical center in Vermont
which serves 2 million meals a year is preparing to reduce GMOs
served to both patients and hospital visitors alike.... The
medical center plans to reduce its GMO usage with two steps:
first they will purchase more organic food, which by definition
should be GMO free, and they will also seek GMO-free products
that are labeled as such.

Feds to Reinvent School Lunches with Flavored Skim Milk Full of
Toxic Additives
Health Impact News - Reps. G.T. Thompson (R-PA) and Joe Courtney
(D-CT) recently introduced the School Milk Nutrition Act of
2015, which seeks to increase dairy consumption in children by
mandating low-fat and non-fat flavored milk for each school
meal.... As usual, there are powerful interests involved: the
dairy industry, looking to regain market share, is very much in
support of the new bill.... Flavored milk contains all kinds of
additives like high fructose corn syrup and artificial
sweeteners like aspartame—a zero-calorie sweetener which Pepsi
has just agreed to remove from its diet soda because of
well-founded consumer concerns about safety. As we reported
earlier, the dairy industry has petitioned the FDA to allow them
to include aspartame as an ingredient but not list it on the
milk label, even though aspartame is very dangerous and
potentially carcinogenic.

Tuesday
- June 9, 2015 - Today in History:

1790 - John Barry copyrighted "Philadelphia Spelling Book." It was the
first American book to be copyrighted.
1860 - The Ms. Ann Stevens book "Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White
Hunter" was offered for sale for a dime. It was the first published
"dime novel."
1923 - Bulgaria's government was overthrown by the military.
1931 - Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.
1940 - Norway surrendered to the Nazis during World War II.
1943 - The withholding tax on payrolls was authorized by the U.S.
Congress.
1945 - Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan would fight
to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.
1959 - The first ballistic missile carrying submarine, the USS George
Washington, was launched.
1978 - Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck
down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon
priesthood.
1980 - Richard Pryor was severely burned by a "free-base" mixture that
exploded. He was hospitalized more than two months.
1985 - Thomas Sutherland, an American educator, was kidnapped in
Lebanon. He was not released until November 1991.
1986 - The Rogers Commission released a report on the Challenger
disaster. The report explained that the spacecraft blew up as a result
of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.
1999 - NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement over Kosovo.
2000 - Canada and the United States signed a border security agreement.
The agreement called for the establishment of a border-enforcement team.
2000 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal gift and estate
taxes. The bill called for the taxes to be phased out over 10 years.
2001 - Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche) became the first National Hockey
League (NHL) player to win three Conn Smythe Trophies. The award is
given to the playoff's Most Valuable Player.
2011 - The world's first artificial organ transplant was performed. It
was an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.

World News

Terrorist Act Ruled Out in Kiev Oil Depot Fire - Press Secretary
Sputnik News - According to Ukrainian Presidential Press Secretary,
terrorist act has been ruled out as the reason for a large fire and
explosion at an oil depot near Kiev.... A fire erupted at a BRSM-Nafta
oil depot late on Monday evening and a blast was reported on Tuesday
morning. According to the latest information, 16 oil cisterns, each
containing around 900 cubic meters of fuel, are ablaze. A fire in one
cistern was extinguished earlier in the day. At least one person has
died.

G7 threatens Russia with further sanctions over Ukraine conflict ‘if
required’
RT - The leaders of the G7 states are ready to impose additional
sanctions on Russia, if the situation in Ukraine worsens, according to a
joint statement issued by the member states, following a two-day summit
in the south of Germany. On Monday, the G7 issued a joint communiqué
summing up the results of their meeting. In regard to the Ukrainian
crisis, the leaders agreed, “that the duration of sanctions should be
clearly linked to Russia’s complete implementation of the Minsk
agreements and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty." “However, we also
stand ready to take further restrictive measures in order to increase
cost on Russia should its actions so require,” it added.

Russia and Egypt Hold Joint Naval Exercise
Reuters - Russia and Egypt are holding their first ever joint naval
exercise, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday, strengthening the
ties between two states which were once Cold War allies. The eight-day
drills off the Mediterranean Egyptian port of Alexandria, beginning
today, will include supply and communication at sea, search operations,
all forms of defence at sea and firing exercises. “The goal of the
exercise is to strengthen and develop military co-operation between
Egypt’s navy and Russia’s navy in the interests of security and
stability on the sea,” the ministry said.... Russia's President Vladimir
Putin has been cultivating ties with Egypt, a Soviet ally for much of
the Cold War and traditional export market for Russian arms.

Israel tests ‘dirty' bombs in fear of enemy attacks says report
RT - Israel has carried out a series of test detonations to measure the
effects of a “dirty” radiological bomb if it were used by “hostile
forces,” according to a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Twenty
detonation tests were performed involving between 250 grams and 25
kilograms of explosives together with the common radioactive substance
known as 99mTc, according to the report. ... The so-called “dirty bomb”
combines conventional explosives with, radioactive materials and is not
considered to be a nuclear weapon or a weapon of mass destruction.

Bilderberg 2015: Full Attendee List & Agenda
InfoWars - The official Bilderberg Group website has released the full
attendee list and agenda for this year’s conference. As ever, the list
of topics to be discussed is so vague as to almost be meaningless....
Telfs-Buchen, 8 June 2015 – The 63rd Bilderberg conference is set to
take place from 11 – 14 June 2015 in Telfs-Buchen, Austria. A total of
around 140 participants from 22 countries have confirmed their
attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts
from industry, finance, academia and the media have been invited.

Google Exec Behind Ingestible ID Chips to Attend Bilderberg 2015
Paul Joseph Watson - Former DARPA director and now Google executive
Regina Dugan, who is helping to develop and promote the idea of an
ingestible identification microchip, will be in attendance at the
secretive 2015 Bilderberg conference in Telfs-Buchen, Austria. Dugan’s
name appeared on the official list of participants released today on the
Bilderberg Group’s official website. One of the topics up for discussion
will be “artificial intelligence.” Google Chairman Erich Schmidt along
with Demis Hassabis, Vice President of Engineering for Google DeepMind,
will also meet with over 100 global power brokers from finance, politics
and academia during the elitist confab.

U.S. base shipped live anthrax to 19 states plus D.C.: Pentagon
Reuters - The number of labs that received live anthrax samples
from a U.S. military base in Utah has risen to 66 in 19 states,
Washington and three foreign countries, the Pentagon said on
Monday. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Defense Department
spokesman, said 31 people were receiving precautionary treatment
for exposure to live anthrax, unchanged since the Pentagon's
last update on the incident. Warren said one new state,
Pennsylvania, had been added to the list of locations where live
anthrax had been sent. In addition to the U.S. states and
Washington, the pathogen was sent to South Korea, Canada and
Australia. Investigators are trying to ascertain whether the
inadvertent shipments of the anthrax, which can be used as a
biological weapon, stemmed from quality control problems at the
base, the Dugway Proving Ground, Pentagon officials said.

Patient With Extreme Form of TB Sent to NIH
NBC News - A female patient with an extremely hard-to-treat form
of tuberculosis is being treated at the National Institutes of
Health outside Washington D.C., and federal and state officials
are now tracking down hundreds of people who may have been in
contact with her.... "The patient traveled in April from India
to the United States through Chicago O'Hare airport," the CDC
said in a statement provided to NBC News. "The patient also
spent time in Missouri and Tennessee. Seven weeks after arriving
in the United States, the patient sought treatment for and was
diagnosed with active TB." She was isolated in a suburban
Chicago hospital before she was sent to NIH.

New Public Database Shows Total People Killed by Police in Real
Time (Video)
Activist Post - The UK Guardian has started keeping an
interactive database of citizens murdered by local police
departments across America in a project called “The Counted”.
This year the Guardian estimates that a total of 479 deaths were
as a result of crossing paths with law enforcement, roughly
twice as many as those published by the FBI. The process uses
social media, local news reports, and public records to catalog
men and women killed by the police in the United States this
year.

Ex-US Intelligence Officials Confirm: Secret Pentagon Report
Proves US Complicity In Creation Of ISIS
Zero Hedge - … in a follow up piece to his stunning original
investigative report, Nafeez Ahmed reveals that according to
leading American and British intelligence experts, the
previously declassified Pentagon report confirms that the West
accelerated support to extremist rebels in Syria, despite
knowing full well the strategy would pave the way for the
emergence of the ‘Islamic State’ (ISIS). The experts who have
spoken out include renowned government whistleblowers such as
the Pentagon’s Daniel Ellsberg, the NSA’s Thomas Drake, and the
FBI’s Coleen Rowley, among others.

Privacy Activists Alarmed by Details of Secret U.S. Trade in
Services Negotiations with EU and 23 other Countries
AllGov - The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) agreement being
negotiated by the Obama administration with representatives from
23 other nations, mostly in Europe and South America, but also
including Japan, South Korea, Australia and Israel, has
provisions that could allow personal data to be stored in other
countries. Unlike the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which deals
mostly with goods, TiSA is intended to regulate services, such
as the Internet. This concerns privacy advocates, particularly
those in Europe, where governments are more concerned with such
issues. Emma Woollacott at Forbes says TiSA, if adopted, could
bar countries “from trying to control where their citizens’
personal data is held or whether it’s accessible from outside
the country.”

Let us spy for 6 months more: NSA asks court for extension of
expired surveillance program
RT - Department of Justice officials have asked a federal court
to restart the NSA spy programs shut down when portions of the
Patriot Act expired on June 1. The US government claims the
Freedom Act allows surveillance to continue for six more months.
In a filing to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC),
revealed Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) requested
permission to continue the “bulk production of call detail
records” for 180 days, arguing that the USA Freedom Act allows a
six-month transition period.

Yellen: Fed won't comply with House subpoena yet
The Hill - Yellen told House Financial Services Committee
Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) that the Fed’s inspector
general, as well as the Justice Department, told her that
responding to his panel’s “extremely broad” legal demand for
documents could get in the way of their own investigations… The
Fed and Justice Department are currently probing how an
investment advisory firm was able to detail for clients
discussions at a private 2012 meeting one day before the meeting
minutes were made public. Yellen promised that the Fed will
ultimately comply with Hensarling’s demands but only after the
criminal investigation is complete.

TSA didn’t spot airport workers with potential terrorism links:
Audit
The Washington Times﻿ - The Transportation Security
Administration failed to screen out more than 70 airport workers
who appeared on terrorist-related vetting lists, the agency’s
inspector general reported Monday, saying officials weren’t
checking all of the right databases. Airport operators and
vendors are supposed to vet their employees with the TSA, which
performs the background checks and does a fingerprint check with
the FBI, then sends the information to airports to make a final
decision. But the Homeland Security inspector general, who
oversees the airport agency, said the TSA missed potential red
flags for 73 individuals because the agency didn’t search all
terrorism-related databases when it did its checks.

Angry homeowner brands cops 'thugs' after SWAT team blows his
house apart looking for a gunman leaving him with $250,000 worth
of damage
Florida Newstime - An angry homeowner has branded the police
'thugs' after a SWAT team demolished his house in a hail of
bullets and grenades during a hunt for a gunman who was holed up
inside. Leo Lech has been left with $250,000 worth of damage to
his home in Greenwood, Colorado, following the 20-hour police
shootout. He says he told the chief of the Greenwood Village
Police Department: 'In any civilized nation ... this is the act
of paramilitary thugs,' but he claims that the chief dismissed
his comments.... According to police, the SWAT team used
chemical agents, flash-bang grenades and a 'breaching ram.' Lech
added: 'They methodically fired explosives into every room in
this house in order to extract one person. Granted, he had a
handgun, but against 100 officers?

White South Carolina Cop Who Shot Black Motorist in the Back
Indicted
Sputnik News - On April 4, a bystander filmed Slager, a
then-patrolman with the North Charleston police department,
fatally shooting 50 year-old Walter Scott. While Slager said he
reacted out of fear for his own life, bystander video of the
incident shows an unarmed Scott running as he is shot in the
back.... Slager, 33, was fired after the incident, but on
Monday, a grand jury also indicted the former officer. While no
trial date has been set at this time, Slager could face between
30 years and life in prison without parole if convicted.

Judge says he quit over speeding ticket quota
WFAA - First, it was the "Dirty Thirty," a line of four towns
along a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 45 south of Dallas that
issue a high volume of traffic tickets. Now, welcome to the
"Texas Triangle" – a group of small towns in Falls and Robertson
counties southeast of Waco that are also in the ticket game,
according to a longtime municipal court judge who said he quit
over what he described as a ticketing quota system.... He told
News 8 that he quit as judge there because he was getting
pressure from city officials to push speeding tickets through
court. "The pressure to collect revenues in Calvert — and
probably other small towns in Texas — is excessive," he said.
"And what happens is, you got judges like me who say they've got
better things to do with my time. 'Thank you very much, and God
bless you, I'll move on.'"

Economy & Business

Guess How Many Nations In The World Do Not Have A Central Bank?
Economic Collapse - Central banking has truly taken over the
entire planet. At this point, the only major nation on the globe
that does not have a central bank is North Korea. Yes, there are
some small island countries such as the Federated States of
Micronesia that do not have a central bank, but even if you
count them, more than 99.9% of the population of the world still
lives in a country that has a central bank.

Energy & Environment

Monsanto Ordered To Pay $93 Million For Poisoning Residents With
Agent Orange
Global Research - Earlier this month the State Supreme Court of
West Virginia dealt a huge blow to the biotech company Monsanto,
ordering it to pay $93 million to the small town of Nitro, West
Virginia for poisoning local citizens with Agent Orange
chemicals.... Approved last year, the details were only recently
worked out a few weeks ago as to how the funds would be
dispersed. In order to receive the benefits outlined in the
settlement, residents of Nitro still need to fill out a
register. And due to the serious importance of this landmark
case, residents in the area are urged to participate as fully as
possible to set a precedent for other class action suits that
farmers and consumers of GMO foods around the world might ignite
against Monsanto in the future.

Science & Technology

VIDEO: This code can hack nearly every credit card machine in
the country
CNNMoney - 90% of credit card readers currently use the same
password. The passcode, set by default on credit card machines
since 1990, is easily found with a quick Google searach and has
been exposed for so long there's no sense in trying to hide it.
It's either 166816 or Z66816, depending on the machine. With
that, an attacker can gain complete control of a store's credit
card readers, potentially allowing them to hack into the
machines and steal customers' payment data (think the Target (TGT)
and Home Depot (HD) hacks all over again).... The problem stems
from a game of hot potato. Device makers sell machines to
special distributors. These vendors sell them to retailers. But
no one thinks it's their job to update the master code,
Henderson told CNNMoney.

Hackers Can Compromise Medical Pumps to Administer Fatal Doses
of Drugs
Sputnik News - A new hacking threat has the medical community
alarmed as a security researcher says he's discovered a way for
hackers to change the dosage of medications delivered by a
patient's drug pump. The security expert, Billy Rios, has been
testing the vulnerabilities of various models of drug pumps
manufactured by Hospira, Wired reports. Earlier this year, he
discovered that a hacker could change the maximum allowable
limit for a particular drug, meaning that the device wouldn't
respond with an alert if too much of a drug was administered by
a caregiver, for example.

Fun Fact: The Feds Can Charge You for Clearing Your Internet
Search History
Sputnik News - Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, people are being
prosecuted for deleting files or clearing their browser
histories, and the harsh penalties associated with these actions
can mean up to 20 years in prison. The 13-year-old act was
written into law in 2002 following the Enron scandal. The aim of
the federal legislation was primarily to prohibit corporations
under federal investigation from shredding or destroying
incriminating documents. But since the law doesn’t require
suspects to know they’re under investigation, Sarbanes-Oxley has
cast a much wider net than it was seemingly intended.

Thync: company launches mood-changing wearable that zaps brains
The Independent - Thync costs $299 and has just been released to
the public. It provides “calm or energy on demand”, the company
says, by using “neurosignalling” to activate nerves and change
people’s state of mind. The Thync looks like a small, white
plastic triangle that is placed on the forehead. Its then fed
with “Vibes” — specially-formulated zaps that either wake people
up or calm them down. The whole thing is controlled by phones.
The zapping lasts an hour but the effects can go on for long
after that, the company claims.

Health

Gardasil Vaccine Survivors in Ireland Launch Support Group
Health Impact News - The R.E.G.R.E.T. Support Group was launched
recently in Ireland by parents of chronically ill teenage girls. These
parents blame an injection the girls received at school as the cause of
their daughters’ illness. The drug in question is called Gardasil and is
being marketed as an anti-cancer vaccine. R.E.G.R.E.T. is an acronym for
“Reactions and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma”.... A
high incidence of serious reactions have been reported in the U.S ever
since Gardasil was released there in 2006. Even the drug manufacturer’s
own clinical trials reveal a 1 in 40 (2.5%) incidence of a serious
adverse reaction*, yet Irish parents are still told by the HSE that
Gardasil is ‘very safe’.

Study: BPA-lined Containers Hike Blood Pressure - Immediately
Green Med Info - Most of us know – or should know by now – that
bisphenol-A mimics estrogen and can thus interrupt our cells' reception
of hormones. This is called hormone disruption. But most of us probably
figure that drinking from a BPA-lined container won't do much immediate
harm, right? Such a notion is shared by many, but unfortunately, it is
wrong. Drinking from a BPA-lined container can cause immediate
cardiovascular harm. The ramifications of such a presumption, if true,
is disastrous. Today, bisphenol-A and its supposedly-safer version,
bisphenol-S, are found in many plastic food and beverage containers
along with the linings of many canned food and beverage containers.

Coconut Oil Pulling Chews
Wellness Mama - If you aren’t familiar with oil pulling, it is simply
swishing oil (usually sesame or coconut oil) in the mouth for a period
of time (5-20 minutes) and then spitting it out in the trash. It is said
to help reduce plaque and coconut oil is naturally antibacterial and
even said to kill the specific bacteria that causes cavities. Lately,
I’ve been experimenting with adding essential oils to oil for oil
pulling to improve the taste and to get the added benefits of the
essential oil. My favorites so far have been essential oils that are
naturally found in toothpaste, like peppermint, cinnamon and clove.

Pet News

12 Signs Your Pet Is Too Hot: Can You Recognize Them All?
Dr. Becker - Once summer arrives, the danger of overheating returns. And
for many areas, these dangers can arrive even sooner, which can be
especially life-threatening. Know how to tell if it's getting too hot
for your pet, and what to do if you see these 12 signs.

1786 - In New York City, commercially manufactured ice cream was
advertised for the first time.
1790 - The first loan for the U.S. was repaid. The Temporary Loan of
1789 was negotiated and secured on September 18, 1789 by Alexander
Hamilton.
1861 - Tennessee voted to secede from the Union and joined the
Confederacy.
1872 - The penny postcard was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S.
citizens.
1947 - "Lassie Show" debuted on ABC radio. It was a 15-minute show.
1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated restaurants in
Washington, DC.
1965 - U.S. troops in South Vietnam were given orders to begin fighting
offensively.
1967 - Israeli airplanes attacked the USS Liberty in the Mediterranean
during the 6-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors. 34 U.S. Navy
crewmen were killed. Israel later called the incident a tragic mistake
due to the mis-identification of the ship. The U.S. has never publicly
investigated the incident.
1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon met with President Thieu of South
Vietnam to tell him 25,000 U.S. troops would pull out by August.
1982 - U.S. President Reagan became the first American chief executive
to address a joint session of the British Parliament.
1987 - Fawn Hill began testifying in the Iran-Contra hearings. She said
that she had helped to shred some documents.
1988 - The judge in the Iran-Contra conspiracy case ruled that Oliver
North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim had to be tried
separately.
1991 - A victory parade was held in Washington, DC, to honor veterans of
the Persian Gulf War.
1995 - U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady was rescued by U.S.
Marines after surviving alone in Bosnia after his F-16 fighter was shot
down on June 2.
1998 - The space shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending
America's three-year partnership with Russia.
2004 - Nate Olive and Sarah Jones began the first known continuous hike
of the 1,800-mile trail down the U.S. Pacific Coast. They completed the
trek at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 28.

World News

Putin intends to undermine NATO - Jt. Chiefs Chairman Dempsey
RT - Russia is seeking to “discredit and eventually undermine” NATO,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said in an
interview published shortly after President Vladimir Putin said only a
madman would think of Russia as a threat to NATO. “I can’t tell you, as
we sit here today, precisely what Putin and Russia intend to do,”
Dempsey said in the interview to the Wall Street Journal. “They have
demonstrated some behaviors outside the international order that clearly
indicate that they are willing to push beyond what most of the nations
with whom we deal consider to be international norms.”

G7 leaders urge tough line on Russia at Alpine summit
Reuters - Group of Seven (G7) leaders vowed at a summit in the Bavarian
Alps on Sunday to keep sanctions against Russia in place until President
Vladimir Putin and Moscow-backed separatists fully implement the terms
of a peace deal for Ukraine. The Ukraine conflict and a long-running
debt standoff between Greece and its European partners dominated the
first day of the annual meeting hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel...
Merkel is hoping to secure commitments from her G7 guests to tackle
global warming ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Paris
in December. The German agenda also foresees discussions on global
health issues, from Ebola to antibiotics and tropical diseases. But
Ukraine took center stage on Sunday, with U.S. President Barack Obama
calling for "standing up to Russian aggression".

South Korea reports jump in MERS infections
Reuters - The Health Ministry announced 23 new infections, bringing the
total to 87. South Korea now has the second highest number of infections
in the world after Saudi Arabia, according to data from the European
Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The latest MERS patient to
die in South Korea was hospitalised for pneumonia when he was infected,
officials in the city of Daejeon said. He was confirmed to have
contracted the virus from another patient at a hospital. Underlining
concern about the spread of the disease, South Korean authorities said
they would track the cellphones of about 2,500 people under quarantine
who may have been in contact with patients. Some of those under
quarantine are in healthcare facilities although most are at home.

Preparing for War? 11 Countries to Supply Lethal Weapons to Ukraine
Sputnik News - Ukraine needs “only defensive weapons to protect its
territory”, a report for President Petro Poroshenko’s annual address to
the parliament read. Ukraine has reached agreements for the supply of
lethal weapons from 11 countries, according to an analytic report for
President Petro Poroshenko’s annual address to the parliament. “Ukraine
reached agreements with 11 countries on weapons supplies, including
lethal weapons. Significant progress on the issue has been made by our
principal ally, the United States,” the document read. The document also
says Ukraine needs “only defensive weapons to protect its territory from
aggression.”

In Major Escalation, Yemen Rebels Fire Scud Missile Into Saudi Arabia
Zero Hedge - On Saturday, Riyadh claimed the Houthis, in concert with
forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, fired a scud
missile at Saudi Arabia for the first time. The scud, which apparently
targeted the city of Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia, was
intercepted by two Patriot missiles. “At 2:45am on Saturday morning, the
Houthi militias and ousted [president] Ali Abdullah Saleh launched a
Scud missile in the direction of Khamees al-Mushait, and praise be to
God, the Royal Saudi air defences blocked it with a Patriot missile," a
statement said.

Israeli Mossad posed as CIA to recruit terrorists to attack Iran
Hang The Bankers - Israeli Mossad agents posed as CIA officers in order
to recruit members of a Pakistani terror group to carry out
assassinations and attacks against the regime in Iran, Foreign Policy
revealed on Friday, quoting U.S. intelligence memos. Foreign Policy’s
Mark Perry reported that the Mossad operation was carried out in
2007-2008, behind the back of the U.S. government, and infuriated then
U.S. President George W. Bush. Perry quotes a number of American
intelligence officials and claims that the Mossad agents used American
dollars and U.S. passports to pose as CIA spies to try to recruit
members of Jundallah, a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization that
has carried out a series of attacks in Iran and assassinations of
government officials.

Greek Banks On Verge Of Total Collapse: Bank Run Surges "Massively" As
Depositors Yank €700 Million Today Alone
Zero Hedge - While the Greek government believes it may have won the
battle, if not the war with Europe, the reality is that every additional
day in which Athens does not have a funding backstop, be it the ECB (or
the BRIC bank), is a day which brings the local banking system to total
collapse. And another day, or two, like today, and it may all be over:
According to banking sources, the Greek bank outflows on Friday soared
to 700 million Euros from 272 million Euros on Thursday.

Why Is The EU Forcing European Nations To Adopt 'Bail-In' Legislation By
The End Of The Summer?
Economic Collapse - It turns out that there are 11 of them… The article
“EU regulators tell 11 countries to adopt bank bail-in rules” [Reuters]
reported how 11 countries are under pressure from the EC and had yet “to
fall in line”. The countries were Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
France and Italy. France and Italy are two countries who are regarded as
having particularly fragile banking systems. But why only two months to
get this done?... Normally, things in Europe take a very long time to
get done. It is out of character for the European Commission to rush to
get something like this done so quickly.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

10 Reasons Why You Should Oppose TPP and TTIP
New American - The U.S. Senate’s passage of Trade Promotion
Authority (TPA) legislation on May 22 means that the TPA bill
(also known as “Fast Track”) will soon be up for a vote in the
House of Representatives. If the House follows suit and approves
it, we can be certain that President Obama and his Republican
supporters in Congress will move for expedited action on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP), both of which, Obama has stated,
are top priorities of his administration.

Man Who Filmed Freddie Gray Arrest Charged With ‘Inciting a
Riot’
Counter Current News - Charged with “terrorism” and “inciting a
riot” as backlash for filming the police?... Kevin Moore, the
man who filmed the now infamous Freddie Gray arrest, just before
police apparently killed the Baltimore resident in the back of a
police van, was harassed continuously after he filmed the
police. Following that harassment, he was arrested and charged
with such outlandish crimes as “terrorism” and “inciting a riot”
as well as “evading police,” “driving with no license,” and an
open container charge. Baltimore prosecutors recently dropped
the charges against Moore, but just yesterday as his friends and
fellow Cop Watchers Chad Jackson, and Aahil TalalAbdullah (Tony
White) appeared in court, they made it clear that the charges
would stick for the others.

TPP Begins to Unravel as Obama Launches Final Push For Votes
Paul Joseph Watson - The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade
package is beginning to unravel, with more prominent voices
slamming President Obama and the Republican leadership over the
secretive deal that threatens to cost American jobs and hand big
corporations new powers that would violate national sovereignty.
House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rules
Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) refused to reveal
to Breitbart whether they had read the TPP agreement but still
said they would support the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and
allow President Barack Obama to fast-track the TPP. Lawmakers
claim that TPA is separate from TPP and that they will review
the final TPP agreement before it is considered by Congress.
However, as Matthew Boyle explains, this explanation doesn’t
wash. A vote for the TPA is a de facto green light for the TPP
since there is essentially no way to halt a trade deal once it
has been fast-tracked.

TPP Emails Show CEO Joked About Making “Royalty Payment” to US
Officials
Paul Joseph Watson - Emails released under a Freedom of
Information Act request show how one chemical company CEO was so
pleased with the rules being set by the Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP) trade deal that he joked about making a
“royalty payment” to U.S. government officials before bragging,
“these rules are our rules.” 400 pages of confidential emails
between industry advisors and USTR officials were obtained by
Intellectual Property Watch. The USTR (Office of the United
States Trade Representative), is the U.S. government agency
responsible for developing the United States’ trade policy.

Energy Dept. Fines Two Nuclear Weapons Labs for Misplacing
Classified Materials and Publically Sharing Weapons Designs
AllGov - At Los Alamos National Laboratories, officials couldn’t
account for a piece of classified “matter” that had been
scheduled to be shipped to a nuclear disposal site in Nevada.
The material, last logged in at Los Alamos in 2007, is assumed
to have been shipped out, but officials can’t confirm that. It
wasn’t noticed for five years that the material wasn’t accounted
for… At the Sandia National Laboratory, officials had included
classified nuclear weapon design information on a server able to
be accessed by the public for years. They even gave PowerPoint
demonstrations from 2003 to 2011 that exposed the information to
outside groups and handed out computer disks with the demo.

NRA: Gun blogs, videos, web forums threatened by new Obama
regulation
Washington Examiner - Commonly used and unregulated internet
discussions and videos about guns and ammo could be closed down
under rules proposed by the State Department, amounting to a
"gag order on firearm-related speech," the National Rifle
Association is warning. In updating regulations governing
international arms sales, State is demanding that anyone who
puts technical details about arms and ammo on the web first get
the OK from the federal government — or face a fine of up to $1
million and 20 years in jail. According to the NRA, that would
include blogs and web forums discussing technical details of
common guns and ammunition, the type of info gun owners and ammo
reloaders trade all the time. "Gunsmiths, manufacturers,
reloaders, and do-it-yourselfers could all find themselves
muzzled under the rule and unable to distribute or obtain the
information they rely on to conduct these activities," said the
NRA in a blog posting.

Arizona Continues Record Pace of Taking Children out of Homes
into State Custody - Now 1 of every 100 Children in Foster Care
Health Impact News - Are we to believe that there are more
criminal, abusive parents in Arizona than anywhere else? Reports
show that these state-sponsored kidnappings are only getting
worse in 2015. Local media reports that the numbers are still
rising.... The only thing more shocking than the number of
Arizona children still in crisis is the governor’s failure to
develop a concrete plan for fixing the year-old Department of
Child Safety. The Brewer administration created this department
after disbanding the overwhelmed Child Protective Services,
which left more than 6,000 reports of abuse and neglect
uninvestigated.

Veteran News

Survivor Contestant & Iraq War Vet Currently Being Held Against
His Will In VA Hospital
The Free Thought Project - Iraq Veteran and Freedom Fighter
Shamar Thomas is currently being held against his will at the
Northport Medical VA Center in Northport, NY. Thomas spoke with
The Free Thought Project today and explained that he went in
Tuesday when he experienced suicidal thoughts while drinking.
This is not uncommon for war veterans, as statistics show that
22 veterans take their own lives every day. Thomas explained to
us that when he sobered up, he expressed that he was no longer
having thoughts of hurting himself and wished to be released to
seek counseling. He was told by Dr. Gregory Gunyan that he was
not permitted to leave or even be evaluated until he agreed to
swallow a cocktail of drugs, to which Thomas refused. According
to Thomas, he was then informed he would be held
indefinitely.... Even more disturbing, Thomas was then informed
by Dr. Gunyan that his outside privileges were being taken away
as punishment for the phone calls made to the hospital seeking a
statement. Thomas expressed to The Free Thought Project that he
is concerned that if any more calls are made, he may be further
punished.

Economy & Business

Cash-Strapped Kansas Moves to Limit ATM Withdrawals for
Residents on Welfare
Bloomberg - Kansas is in trouble. After slashing income taxes in
2012, the state faces a revenue gap of more than $400 million.
Republican Governor Sam Brownback and state legislators are
debating how to make up the shortfall. So far they’ve agreed on
one way to control how state money is spent. Starting in July,
people on the dole will be limited to a single ATM withdrawal of
no more than $25 per day.... Kansas is among several
Republican-controlled states that have recently cut or limited
public-assistance funds.

The "Illegal Immigrant" Recovery? The Real Stunner In The Jobs
Report
Zero Hedge - In the latest jobs report we find the following
stunner: since the start of the Second Great Depression, the US
has added 2.3 million "foreign-born" workers, offset by just
727K "native-born". This means that the "recovery" has almost
entirely benefited foreign-born workers, to the tune fo 3 to 1
relative to native-born Americans!

Farmers Say Oil Firms and Governor Brown Colluded to Pollute
Aquifer
Courthouse News - The Committee to Protect Agricultural Water
sued the oil companies and the state of California on Wednesday
in Federal Court. It claims that defendant Gov. Jerry Brown et
al. violated the Safe Drinking Water Act by approving permits
for underground oil wells in the San Joaquin Valley, through the
co-defendant California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources. Also sued is the Western States Petroleum
Association, a trade group. The 50-page lawsuit gets right to
the point: "Every month, Occidental and Chevron directly pump
2.63 times more toxic waste water into the San Joaquin Aquifer
than oil released into the Gulf during the entire BP spill," it
begins. "The California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources (DOGGR) plans to allow them to continue for another 21
months. This lawsuit is brought to stop the poisoning of the San
Joaquin aquifer and to remediate the damage already done to the
farmland of Kern County."

Drought: Lacking Water, Bakersfield Water Plant May Shut Down
Breitbart - A water plant in northeast Bakersfield in
California’s Central Valley may shut down by the fall due to
lack of available water for filtration, according to local ABC
News affiliate KERO-23. The Kern River, which flows from the
Sierra Nevada range south to the Central Valley, is near record
low levels, which has potentially dire consequences for the
plant and the city.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Home Composting: 16 Foods That’ll Re-Grow from Kitchen Scraps
Natural News Blogs - Food is expensive. If you do the grocery
shopping for your household, you know that this is one of the
highest costs related to your home and family. While it may be
unlikely that you can completely eliminate your grocery bill,
you can grow certain foods yourself. And, you can grow them from
scraps that you would normally throw away.

Health

Tips to Benefit from Grounding Indoors and Out—Including Using a
Grounded Yoga Mat to Thin Blood and Thwart Inflammation
Dr. Mercola - The interchangeable terms "earthing" and
"grounding" refer to the act of walking barefoot on the earth,
which allows for the transfer of free electrons from the earth
into your body, through the soles of your feet. These free
electrons are among the most potent antioxidants known, and the
effects of grounding have been shown to promote health in a
number of ways. For starters, walking barefoot can help
ameliorate the constant assault of electromagnetic fields and
other types of radiation from cell phones, computers, and Wi-Fi—an
important benefit for those whose lives are bustling with
electronics. It also cuts inflammation, which thrives when your
blood is thick and you have a lot of free radical stress and
positive charges in your body. Grounding effectively alleviates
inflammation because it thins your blood and infuses you with
negatively charged ions.

Diabetes management: mobile app to remotely monitor glucose
levels in real-time
(NaturalNews) The Food and Drug Administration has recently
approved a mobile app that would drastically help diabetics.
Concerned parents or caregivers, for example, could monitor a
person's glucose levels from afar, providing them with peace of
mind. The Dexcom Share device, Dexcom G4, is the latest
development that marries insulin delivery with blood sugar
monitoring while also removing the often trial-and-error task of
calibrating insulin doses.

Hormone-Mimicking Compound Still Found In Hundreds of Brands of
Foods
Mae Chan - In a survey of more than 250 brands of canned food,
researchers found that more than 44 percent use bisphenol-A
lined cans for some or all of their products. With 109 brands
not responding or providing enough information, that number
could be a lot higher. Consuming a daily serving of canned food
products has a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A
(BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals
consumed fresh food daily. BPA is a dangerous chemical linked to
health concerns from digestive problems to issues with brain
development. It’s was found present in around two billion
products in the U.S. that are used on a daily basis. Because
it’s the most harmful on developing brains and bodies, children
and pregnant women especially need to avoid contact with BPA.

Friday
- June 5, 2015 - Today in History:

1752 - Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate
that lightning was a form of electricity.
1794 - The U.S. Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign
armed forces.
1851 - Harriet Beecher Stow published the first installment of "Uncle
Tom's Cabin" in "The National Era."
1865 - The first safe deposit vault was opened in New York. The charge
was $1.50 a year for every $1,000 that was stored.
1917 - American men began registering for the World War I draft.
1933 - President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the
gold standard.
1940 - During World War II, the Battle of France began when Germany
began an offensive in Southern France.
1944 - The first B-29 bombing raid hit the Japanese rail line in
Bangkok, Thailand.
1956 - Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounced Josef Stalin to the Soviet
Communist Party Congress.
1973 - The first hole-in-one in the British Amateur golf championship
was made by Jim Crowford.
1975 - Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight
years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.
1981 - In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that five men in Los Angeles were suffering from a rare
pneumonia found in patients with weakened immune systems. They were the
first recognized cases of what came to be known as AIDS.
1986 - A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald Pelton of selling
secrets to the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to 3 life prison terms
plus 10 years.
1987 - Ted Koppel and guests discussed the topic of AIDS for four hours
on ABC-TV’s "Nightline".
1998 - C-Span reported that Bob Hope had died. The report was false and
had begun with an inaccurate obituary on the Associated Press website.
1998 - A strike at a General Motors parts factory began. It lasted for
seven weeks.
2001 - Amazon.com announced that it would begin selling personal
computers later in the year.
2004 - The U.S.S. Jimmy Carter was christened in the U.S. Navy in
Groton, CT.

‘Reading tea leaves’: German expert questions Bellingcat’s MH17 photo
scoop
RT - A German image forensics expert has debunked the analysis of
British online investigative group Bellingcat, which accused Russia of
altering satellite images from the MH17 disaster. He labeled the probe
“subjective” and “not based entirely on science.”... But, German image
forensics expert Jens Kriese said in an interview with Der Spiegel that
it is, in fact, not possible to tell whether the images have been
manipulated.

49 NATO vessels, 5,600 troops gear up for major US-led drills in Baltics
RT - Around 50 vessels from 17 countries, involving overall 5,600
troops, will be taking part in US-led exercise BALTOPS in the Baltic Sea
starting June 5. In 15 days, NATO allies will show their eagerness and
ability to protect the region. Featuring anti-submarine warfare, air
defense, interception of suspect vessels and amphibious landings, the
annual BALTOPS will run through June 20.

US knowingly conceals E. Ukrainian ceasefire violations by Kiev – leak
RT - The US and its Western allies are well aware of all the ceasefire
violations in eastern Ukraine but, deliberately turn a blind eye to
Kiev’s actions, hackers said after obtaining the emails of top Ukrainian
official overseeing the truce. The correspondence contained satellite
images proving multiple violations of the Minsk peace agreements between
Kiev and the rebels by the Ukrainian military, they said.

China Blamed For "Largest Theft Of US Government Data Ever" - 95% Of
Federal Employees Affected
Zero Hedge - A week ago, Russian "crime syndicates" were blamed when the
IRS announced that a "major cyber breach allowed criminals to steal the
tax returns of more than 100,000 people." Today, it is China's turn to
be blamed following a report that the FBI is probing what has been
described as "one of the largest thefts of government data ever seen."
The alleged penetration by Chinese hackers breached the files of the
Office of Personnel Management, in which a vast amount of information
about federal employees was accessed. According to the WSJ,
investigators believe the hack compromised the records of approximately
4 million individuals. Indicatively, according to the OPM, there are
about 4.2 million total personnel, so the hack affected some 95% of all
Federal workers.

Tens of Thousands March Against Global Elites Ahead of G7
Common Dreams - 'As representatives of some of the most powerful
countries in the world prepare to gather for their annual Group of Seven
(G7) meeting, this time at a castle in the German town of Elmau, tens of
thousands marched through nearby Munich on Thursday to protest the
summit's politics of "neo-liberal economic policies, war and
militarization, exploitation, poverty and hunger, environmental
degradation, and the closing-off towards refugees." Over 34,000 people
reportedly turned out for Thursday's march, with one demonstrator
identified as Julia by Euronews declaring "we must not lose hope that
one day the world really will be equal, and we will all have the same
values."

‘Where’s the $500 mn?’ Red Cross promises houses for 130,000 Haitians,
’builds only 6’
RT - An investigation has found that the American Red Cross wasted $500
million in its bid to help Haiti, underperformed in its programs, and
then tried to cover it up. Despite the NGO’s celebrated success, insider
accounts point to failures. When a devastating earthquake struck the
Western hemisphere’s poorest country in 2010, the American Red Cross was
one of the organizations at the forefront of the humanitarian effort to
rebuild it a year later, launching a multi-million-dollar effort. The
main program – LAMIKA (a Creole acronym for ‘A Better Life in My
Neighborhood’) – was to build hundreds of permanent homes to house some
130,000 people living in abject poverty after the quake. Now, in 2015,
the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Campeche is as dilapidated as ever,
with hardly any new buildings, trash strewn around, animals walking the
streets, and people enduring sub-standard conditions in self-made
shacks.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

N.S.A. Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border
NY Times - Without public notice or debate, the Obama
administration has expanded the National Security Agency‘s
warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international Internet
traffic to search for evidence of malicious computer hacking,
according to classified N.S.A. documents. In mid-2012, Justice
Department lawyers wrote two secret memos permitting the spy
agency to begin hunting on Internet cables, without a warrant
and on American soil, for data linked to computer intrusions
originating abroad — including traffic that flows to suspicious
Internet addresses or contains malware, the documents show....
The disclosures, based on documents provided by Edward J.
Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, and shared with The New
York Times and ProPublica, come at a time of unprecedented
cyberattacks on American financial institutions, businesses and
government agencies, but also of greater scrutiny of secret
legal justifications for broader government surveillance.

Land of the Unfree – Police and Prosecutors Fight Aggressively
to Retain Barbaric Right of “Civil Asset Forfeiture”
Liberty Blitzkrieg - Efforts to limit seizures of money, homes
and other property from people who may never be convicted of a
crime are stalling out amid a wave of pressure from prosecutors
and police. Their effort, at least at the state level, appears
to be working. At least a dozen states considered bills
restricting or even abolishing forfeiture that isn’t accompanied
by a conviction or gives law enforcement less control over
forfeited proceeds. But most measures failed to pass.

FREEDOM Act Passes, Effectively Kills Freedom
Brandon Turbeville - The FREEDOM Act does nothing to punish or
prevent intelligence agencies who have been illegally
wiretapping innocent Americans. In fact, it has simply legalized
the process. According to Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul
Institute, the bill is able to legalize the storage and
collection of bulk data by putting the responsibility upon the
back of the major telecommunications companies who will be
tasked with doing just that – storing and retaining all data –
for future use by intelligence agencies. This data must be
turned over to the agencies upon request. It is, essentially,
the privatization of mass surveillance. These Telecom giants who
will now be in charge of the data collection have worked hand in
glove with intelligence agencies for some time. Now the law will
require them to do so.

VIDEO: Pentagon: Live Anthrax Sent to 52 Labs in 18 States, 3
Countries
NBC News - Pentagon officials announced Thursday the number of
kits containing live anthrax has grown again to 52 labs in 18
states, Washington, D.C., and three foreign countries,
Australia, South Korea and Canada — more than twice as high than
first reported. Two labs, one in Maryland the other in Canada,
received live anthrax spores. Pentagon officials stressed that
they don't believe the public is in danger from the live spores.
Some 31 military and civilian lab workers who came into contact
with the vials are being treated with antibiotics for potential
exposure.

15 Ridiculous Ways to get on the FBI Terrorist Watchlist
GovSlaves - In hopes of catching more terrorists, the FBI
released twenty five instructional pamphlets intended for
everyone from hobby store owners to karate instructors. The idea
being that these businesses will turn in their customers to the
FBI as suspected terrorists. Every single one of these examples
were taken directly from FBI lists distributed to places of
business in how they can help fight the war on terror. Do one of
these, and you might end up at FEMA camp.

VIDEO: Mosby says she'll seek order to block release of Freddie
Gray autopsy report
The Baltimore Sun - Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby
plans to seek a protective order that would block the release of
Freddie Gray's autopsy report and other "sensitive" documents as
she prosecutes the six police officers involved in his arrest.
Mosby told The Baltimore Sun that prosecutors "have a duty to
ensure a fair and impartial process for all parties involved"
and "will not be baited into litigating this case through the
media." But an attorney for one of the officers said the effort
shows that "there is something in that autopsy report that they
are trying to hide."... The move is the latest effort by Mosby's
office to restrict information in the high-profile case. Her
office has also sought a gag order to prevent participants from
discussing the case in public, and has broken with a
long-standing practice by not giving a copy of the autopsy
report to Baltimore police.... The Sun is one of 19 news
organizations contesting Mosby's gag order request.

3,700 Illegal Immigrant ‘Threat Level 1’ Criminals Released Into
U.S. by DHS
Washington Times - Most of the illegal immigrant criminals
Homeland Security officials released from custody last year were
discretionary, meaning the department could have kept them in
detention but chose instead to let them onto the streets as
their deportation cases moved through the system, according to
new numbers from Congress. Some of those released were the worst
of the worst — more than 3,700 “Threat Level 1” criminals, who
are deemed the top priority for deportation, were still released
out into the community even as they waited for their immigration
cases to be heard.

Kids Abused, Choked And Beaten In Dark Rooms At Police
“Leadership Camp”
Steve Watson - Several children aged 12 to 16 have come forward
declaring that they were abused at the hands of cops at at 20
week “leadership camp” in California. The police training camp
claims to teach ‘discipline and leadership’ in order to keep
kids out of trouble and reduce family conflict. The program,
which costs $400, is sponsored by the Huntington Park Police
Department, South Gate Police Department, and the California
National Guard. However, police with San Luis Obispo County have
been accused of pulling children into dark rooms and punching,
choking and beating them.

‘Off Grid Kids’ Still in State Custody One Month Later
Paul Joseph Watson - All ten of the children seized from “off
grid” parents Joe and Nicole Naugler remain in state custody
almost one month after they were first taken, with the Nauglers
none the wiser as to when their kids will be returned....
Despite substantial media coverage of the case, the children
remain in state custody with the parents set to attend another
court hearing next week to try and discover their fate.

Proof You’re Better Off Fighting Traffic Tickets in Court
Kit Daniels - A small town in Texas known as a “speed trap”
doesn’t have a prosecutor and relies on motorists to pay their
tickets without challenging them in court, the city’s former
judge admitted. The former judge of Calvert, Texas, David
Viscarde, said that small towns write so many tickets not only
for the revenue but also because they know the vast majority of
drivers who simply pay up have no idea that the towns are
incapable of trying the cases.

Economy & Business

The Central Banks Are Losing Control Of The Financial Markets
Economic Collapse - Every great con game eventually comes to an
end. For years, global central banks have been manipulating the
financial marketplace with their monetary voodoo. Somehow, they
have convinced investors around the world to invest tens of
trillions of dollars into bonds that provide a return that is
way under the real rate of inflation. For quite a long time I
have been insisting that this is highly irrational. Why would
any rational investor want to put money into investments that
will make them poorer on a purchasing power basis in the long
run? And when any central bank initiates a policy of
“quantitative easing”, any rational investor should immediately
start demanding a higher rate of return on the bonds of that
nation. Creating money out of thin air and pumping into the
financial system devalues all existing money and creates
inflation.

Energy & Environment

All in How You Phrase it: EPA Claims Fracking Doesn’t Cause
'Widespread' Pollution, Experts Cry Foul
Sputnik News - The US Environmental Protection Agency says that,
while hydraulic fracturing has the potential to contaminate
drinking water, and has done so on some occasions, there is no
evidence of "widespread" pollution across the country, according
to a draft report released by Thursday. he report, commissioned
by Congress, claims to be the most comprehensive evaluation to
date of the effect on drinking water of hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking. The process involves pumping chemical-laden water deep
underground under intense pressure to shatter rock formations
and release valuable oil and gas.

VIDEO: Harvard, Syracuse Researchers Caught Lying to Boost Obama
Climate Rules
Breitbart - E-mails obtained from the Environmental Protection
Agency show that Harvard University, Syracuse University and two
of their researchers appear to have falsely claimed a study
supporting EPA’s upcoming global warming rules was conducted “independent(ly)”
of the agency. In early May, a study published in the journal
Nature Climate Change purported to support a key EPA claim about
its forthcoming global warming rules aimed at coal-fired power
plants.

Science & Technology

Scientists Unveil Genetically Modified Insects with ‘Kill
Switch’ Genes
Natural Society - Biotechnologists at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a ‘kill-switch’ for
genetically modified insects. It is meant to assist corporations
in controlling genetically modified organisms set free in the
wild.... Utilizing a gene-editing technology, scientists have
developed a way to delete entire strains of DNA instead of just
editing them.... In laboratory tests, scientists encoded GMO
bacteria with this “kill switch” and they died within fifteen
minutes of encountering the substance designed to trigger it, a
sugar molecule called arabinose. The findings of professor
Voigt’s team, published in the journal Nature Communications
just weeks ago, have already attracted national attention.
Hopefully it is alarm, and not simply egoistic excitement that
this discovery is creating.

Health

Vaccine Injuries and Deaths Continue to Increase in Federal
Vaccine Court
Health Impact News - The Department of Justice issues a report
on vaccine injuries and deaths every quarter to the Advisory
Commission on Childhood Vaccine. There are 163 cases for vaccine
injuries and deaths for the period 2/16/2015 through 5/15/2015.
103 of the settlements were listed in this report, giving the
name of the vaccines, the injury, and the amount of time the
case was pending before settlement. Four of those settlements
were for deaths linked to vaccines, with three deaths related to
the flu shot, and one death for the Hepatitis B shot, typically
given to newborns. 74 of the 103 settlements were for injuries
and deaths due to the flu shot, and the majority of flu shot
injuries were for Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

4 Month-Old Infant From Tennessee Passed Away After Given 7
Vaccines
Natural Blaze - Parents in Memphis, Tennessee, are mourning the
loss of their baby girl Ja’Liyah Cortize Turner, after she
passed away in her sleep, less than four days after receiving
seven vaccines. Her mother Quavia felt pressured into getting
her daughter further vaccinated, even though she didn’t want to,
because her daughter had a bad reaction from the round of
vaccines given to her earlier. Ja’Liyah’s autopsy report did not
mention the vaccines even though she still had the knots on her
legs at the injection sites. Her cause of death was ruled
“Unknown, Undetermined.”

$25 blood test identifies any virus you've ever had
Wired News - A $25 test that can identify any virus that has
ever affected a person, from one drop of blood, has been
developed. It can test for more than 1,000 virus strains at any
one time. "VirScan is a little like looking back in time: using
this method, we can take a tiny drop of blood and determine what
viruses a person has been infected with over the course of many
years," said co-author on a paper announcing the news in
Science, Stephen Elledge of Harvard Medical School. "What makes
this so unique is the scale: right now, a physician needs to
guess what virus might be at play and individually test for it.
With VirScan, we can look for virtually all viruses, even rare
ones, with a single test."

Natural Society - Plaintiffs are seeking over $5 million in
damages from the well-known baby formula maker, Abbot
Laboratories (who makes Similac) for labeling one of their
formulas as organic when it is anything but organic. Sara
Margentette, Matthew O’Neil Nighswander, and Ellen Steinlien
filed the suit on May 15 in U.S. District Court in New York,
claiming that Abbot’s Similac Advance Organic contains
ingredients that are prohibited from being in ‘organic’ food.
The plaintiffs are wondering how the product was certified, and
why 26 of the 49 ingredients – more than half – are not supposed
to be in organic food.

Thursday
- June 4, 2015 - Today in History:

1784 - Marie Thible became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon.
The flight was 45 minutes long and reached a height of 8,500 feet.
1792 - Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Britain.
1794 - British troops captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1805 - Tripoli was forced to conclude peace with U.S. after conflicts
over tribute.
1812 - The Louisiana Territory had its name changed to the Missouri
Territory.
1816 - The Washington was launched at Wheeling, WV. It was the first
stately, double-decker steamboat.
1911 - Gold was discovered in Alaska's Indian Creek.
1918 - French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at
Chateau-Thierry, France.
1919 - The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill.
1924 - An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City
in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I.
1942 - The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for
America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and
ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
1944 - The U-505 became the first enemy submarine captured by the U.S.
Navy.
1944 - During World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, which
began the liberation of the Italian capital.
1947 - The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The
legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in
labor disputes.
1954 - French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc
initialed treaties in Paris giving "complete independence" to Vietnam.
1989 - In Beijing, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square to crush
the pro-democracy movement. It is believed that hundreds, possibly
thousands, of demonstrators were killed.
2003 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban
"partial birth" abortions with a 282-139 vote.
2008 - The United Kingdom and Canada became the first countries to be
able to buy and rent films at the iTunes Store.

World News

Lavrov: Russia Ready to Work With Afghanistan on Curbing Drug Production
Sputnik News - Lavrov said during opening comments at the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization’s conference on regional security in Moscow:
“We are ready to deepen constructive cooperation with Kabul in all
areas. We believe that special attention is needed in the expansion of
mutual action with the Afghan side in fighting against drug plantations
and drug laboratories. The volume of drug production in Afghanistan is
growing at a threatening pace and the income is being absorbed not only
by terrorist groups in the country, but also beyond its borders.”

Greece: Out Of Cash, Out Of Time, Out Of Options
Zero Hedge - Most commentary still appears predicated on the idea that
there will be some last-minute deal - either because the creditors will
back down and give Greece some more money without requiring it to be
paid back or because the Greek government will back down if it
understands that not doing so would ultimately mean leaving the euro. On
the other hand, some believe neither side is particularly interested in
achieving a deal.

Investors Start To Panic As A Global Bond Market Crash Begins
Economic Collapse - Is the financial collapse that so many are expecting
in the second half of 2015 already starting? Many have believed that we
would see bonds crash before the stock market crashes, and that is
precisely what is happening right now. Since mid-April, the yield on 10
year German bonds has shot up from 0.05 percent to 0.89 percent. But
much of that jump has come this week. Just a couple of days ago, the
yield on 10 year German bonds was sitting at just 0.54 percent. And it
isn’t just Germany – bond yields are going crazy all over Europe. So
far, it is being estimated that global investors have lost more than
half a trillion dollars, and there is much more room for these bonds to
fall. In the end, the overall losses could be well into the trillions
even before the stock market collapses.

US-Led Coalition Carries Out 22 Airstrikes Against ISIL in Iraq, Syria
Sputnik News - “In Syria, Coalition military forces conducted four
airstrikes using attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft,” CENTCOM
said. “Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 18
airstrikes approved by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense using attack,
bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL [Islamic
State] terrorists.”... More than 4,000 Coalition airstrikes have so far
failed to stem the advances of the Islamic State. The Coalition has
carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State since August 2014.

Multiple airstrikes in Gaza after two rockets launched into Israel
RT - Several massive explosions rocked the Gaza Strip on Thursday night
amid multiple reports of Israeli jets buzzing the area. It follows
reports that two rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel but failed
to cause any damage.... Earlier on Wednesday, two missiles were fired
into Israel from Gaza. However, it was not Hamas, but its rival Salafist
group called Omar Brigades, loyal to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
that claimed responsibility for the attack.... An Israeli army statement
cited by Haaretz blamed Hamas for Wednesday’s missile attack.

'Exploitation of a Higher Kind': How the G7 is Fueling Corporate
Dominion of Africa
Common Dreams - Under the specious claim of delivering "aid to Africa,"
western governments are backing an initiative—described by some as
another form of "colonialism"—that is effectively enabling the corporate
takeover of African nations by some of the world’s biggest food and
agriculture companies. On Wednesday, as corporate executives,
politicians, and G7 officials assembled in Cape Town, South Africa for a
closed-door meeting of the G7’s New Alliance for Food Security and
Nutrition, a coalition of small scale farmers, unions, workers, and food
sovereignty groups released a statement condemning the program.

The Next Epidemic? 1,364 Now Under Quarantine for Novel MERS Virus in
South Korea
The Daily Sheeple - It has now been confirmed that 30 people in South
Korea have contracted MERS, a deadly virus from the same family as SARS,
and officials believe that number is going to grow. Two people have
died, and another 1,364 people are currently being quarantined. The
Korean government has closed down over 230 schools to prevent the
infection from spreading. MERS, which stands for Middle East respiratory
syndrome coronavirus, is a relatively new virus discovered in Saudi
Arabia in 2012. According to the CDC, people who contract MERS wind up
with a severe and often deadly acute respiratory illness.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Barack Obama: China might join trade deal — eventually
Politico - China could eventually join the trade pact currently
under negotiation with 12 Pacific Rim nations, President Barack
Obama said Wednesday. A central part of Obama’s pitch for the
trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been that
it would prevent China from making the rules in the region. But
in an interview set for broadcast Wednesday evening on public
radio’s “Marketplace,” Obama said that China is showing interest
joining the agreement. “They’ve already started putting out
feelers about the possibilities of them participating at some
point,” Obama told host Kai Ryssdal. Those feelers, he added,
are being directed “to us, to Jack Lew, the Treasury secretary.”

The Next Escalation: FBI Launches Probe Of Russia 2018 World Cup
Award
Zero Hedge - With The FBI now reportedly investigating the award
of The Soccer World Cup to Qatar and Russia, it appears, as
Mises' Lew Rockwell exclaimed, "FIFA has got to change its name,
it’s going to have to take out the “I” and put in an “A” for
American." This sudden act of imperialism by The US, putting
itself in charge of world soccer, as Paul Craig Roberts notes,
it "is another Washington-British scam against Russia," adding
"law is a weapon that Washington uses to achieve its agenda."

Under Hillary, US Sold $66 Million In Chemical Arms To Clinton
Foundation Donors Gassing Their Citizens
Zero Hedge - "During the roughly two years of Arab Spring
protests that confronted authoritarian governments with popular
uprisings, Clinton’s State Department approved $66 million worth
of so-called Category 14 exports -- defined as "toxicological
agents, including chemical agents, biological agents and
associated equipment" -- to nine Middle Eastern governments that
either donated to the Clinton Foundation or whose affiliated
groups paid Bill Clinton speaking fees," IBTimes reports.

Live anthrax sent to 51 labs in 17 states and 3 nations –
Pentagon
RT - The Department of Defense admitted that 51 labs in 17
states and three different countries received suspected live
samples of anthrax over the course of a one-year period, and
added that the number of recipients may rise as the
investigation continues.... The Department of Defense said that
the probe has not found any indication that the samples were
sent as a result of a deliberate action or that anyone had been
infected by the lethal bacteria. The agency also said there was
no danger to the public from the anthrax. The Pentagon
previously said that the anthrax had “accidentally” been sent to
24 laboratories in 11 states and two foreign countries.... As a
precaution, the DoD has asked labs to stop working on those
samples until further notice from the Pentagon and the CDC. The
government is also in the midst of testing every previously
inactivated anthrax sample ‒ 400 lots worth ‒ to ensure that it
does not contain any live spores.

WikiLeaks Strikes Again: Leaked TISA Docs Expose Corporate Plan
For Reshaping Global Economy
Common Dreams - An enormous corporate-friendly treaty that many
people haven't heard of was thrust into the public limelight
Wednesday when famed publisher of government and corporate
secrets, WikiLeaks, released 17 documents from closed-door
negotiations between countries that together comprise two-thirds
of the word's economy. Analysts warn that preliminary review
shows that the pact, known as the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA),
is aimed at further privatizing and deregulating vital services,
from transportation to healthcare, with a potentially
devastating impact for people of the countries involved in the
deal, and the world more broadly.

VIDEO: Explosions rock Michigan neighborhood as US Army urban
training begins
Blacklisted News - A ten-day US Army urban military training
exercise has begun in Flint, Michigan with explosions rocking
neighborhoods and scaring residents who had no idea what was
actually happening. With less than three hours between a city
press release and the beginning of the exercise, residents were
left in the dark about the urban military training until the
last possible moment. Most had no idea what was happening as
their homes shook from the force of the simulated explosions.
“It was like a big huge explosion, it shook my whole house, it
shook the ground.”

Dems push gun control with smart tech handgun rules
The Hill - The Handgun Trigger Safety Act introduced Tuesday by
Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.)
aims to block criminals and children from using guns that do not
belong to them. Gun dealers would be required to install smart
gun technology that fires only if it recognizes the shooter,
such as the person who purchased the gun or someone they
designate as an authorized user. Some smart gun technologies use
fingerprints, while others require the shooter to wear a
bluetooth bracelet or receive a microchip implant that unlocks
the gun.

Michigan City Raises Citizens’ Taxes to Pay for Police Brutality
Sputnik News - The city of Inkster is giving residents a
one-time tax hike to pay for the massive settlement for Floyd
Dent, a man brutally beaten during a traffic stop. In January,
police were caught on camera brutally dragging Dent from his
vehicle, then choking, beating, and tasing him. Dent had no
criminal history and did not appear to be resisting arrest in
the footage. Dent was charged with assault, resisting arrest,
and possession of cocaine after the violent beating that left
him hospitalized for two days. All charges against Dent have
been dropped. A video later emerged of an officer placing what
appeared to be cocaine from his pocket in Dent’s car.... Now,
Inkster is set to add a charge for all taxpayers on July 1, a
hike that’s expected to bring in $6.45 million to cover the
costs of the lawsuit.

Baltimore Police Fired 72 Officers in 3 Years for Misconduct,
Crimes
Sputnik News - Seventy-two police officers have been fired in
Baltimore for misconduct and illegal activities since Police
Commissioner Anthony Batts took office in September 2012,
Baltimore Police Department said in a statement. “Under the
Police Commissioner’s [Batts] tenure there have been a total of
72 forced separations from the agency,” the statement said on
Wednesday. “These are individuals who have been internally
charged with misconduct, false statements, criminal activities,
neglecting their duty and other offences.”

Sens. Booker and Boxer Introduce Bill Requiring Data Collection
Of Police-Involved Killings
Truth in Media - Washington, D.C.- On Tuesday, U.S. Sens.
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D- N.J.) introduced
legislation that would compel all 50 states to submit reports of
people killed by police officers to the Justice Department, as
well as reports of people injured by police. The bill also calls
for mandated reporting of cases in which police officers are
killed or injured. The legislation is titled the Police
Reporting of Information, Data and Evidence (PRIDE) Act and
according to Booker’s press release, the law would require
states to “report to the Justice Department on any incident in
which a law enforcement officer is involved in a shooting, and
any other instance where use of force by or against a law
enforcement officer or civilian results in serious bodily injury
or death.”

Native Tribes Have Withdrawn from the State of Maine
The Daily Sheeple - Since 2011, Maine Governor Paul LePage has
used executive orders to dictate the state’s relationship with
native tribal governments. In April of this year, he declared
that the state of Maine and the native tribes now have a
“relationship between equals with its own set of
responsibilities” which effectively cedes control of their land
and natural resources to the state government. After fighting
the state in court, 3 out of 4 of the state’s native tribes
issued a declaration last week, which claims that they will no
longer recognize the authority of any political official from
the state of Maine.... As a result, these tribes have withdrawn
their representatives from the state legislature.

Get Jailed For Toys In Yard, Missing Shingles In This American
Town
GovSlaves - Not mowing the lawn regularly, having a missing
shingle, and even failing to put curtains or screens on windows
can lead to thousands of dollars in fines in some communities –
and even jail if fines aren’t paid. Pagedale, Missouri,
residents Valarie and Vincent Blount face $1,810 in fines for
such offenses as having peeling paint, having an overgrown tree
and also not recycling, The St. Louis Post-Dispatchreported.
Other residents have been fined for having barbecue pits and
toys in the front yard, for having basketball hoops in the
street, for not making their children wear bicycle helmets, and
for walking in the street.

Economy & Business

Economist: Financial Elites Fear Provoking Bank Runs
Paul Joseph Watson - Economist Martin Armstrong warns that the
financial elite are plotting to abolish cash but are wary of the
public becoming aware of the plan because it could cause bank
runs. A meeting to discuss the move towards eliminating physical
currency took place at the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
hotel in London recently during which Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard
University and Willem Buiter, the Chief Economist at Citigroup,
gave presentations. According to Armstrong, “The lack of press
coverage was deliberate, and intended to avoid sending panic to
the people, which would lead to a massive bank run if people
understood what these guys are discussing.”

47% of Americans would have to Borrow or Sell Something to Cover
an Unexpected Expense of $400
AllGov - The Federal Reserve asked 50,000 people if they could
handle an unexpected “financial disruption” costing them $400.
Just over half (53%) said they could “fairly easily handle such
an expense.” But for 47% of respondents, $400 was a tougher
problem to handle. Within this group, 14% said they simply
couldn’t cover it. Another 10% would have to sell something, 13%
would have to borrow money from a friend or relative and 2%
would have to resort to a high-interest payday loan.

Energy & Environment

Oklahoma Joins Texas in Prohibiting Local Bans on Fracking
AllGov - The restrictions in both states came at the behest of
oil and gas producers, who are big contributors to GOP
politicians. Municipalities and environmental groups opposed the
Oklahoma bill signed by Gov. Fallin. “There’s nothing in the
bill that says cities can have the authority to protect local
drinking water supplies,” said Norman Mayor Rosenthal. She's
concerned about wastewater from fracking operations ending up in
Lake Thunderbird, which supplies drinking water to about 200,000
people.

Science & Technology

Paypal’s Horrifying New User Agreement Lets The Company Robocall
& Autotext Users At Will
GovSlaves - Even though PayPal recently agreed to fork over $25
million in fines for deceptive business practices, it seems that
the online payments company is up to its old tricks yet again.
Ahead of its planned split from eBay, PayPal is planning to roll
out a new terms of service agreement for its customers which
would allow the company to pepper its userbase with robocalls
and text messages. What’s more, the updated terms of service
would allow PayPal to contact users at either their designated
phone number or even an undisclosed number PayPal managed to
obtain through other means. Set to go into effect on July 1,
PayPal’s updated user agreement is not an opt-in type of deal,
which makes it all the more worrisome.

WHO may Soon Deliver a Huge Blow to Companies Like Monsanto
Natural Society - When the World Health Organization recently
declared that the herbicide ingredient glyphosate was ‘probably
carcinogenic,’ numerous countries responded with bans, serious
inquiries, and boycotts of Monsanto’s Roundup. Now, the WHO is
now set to review another Big Ag chemical, 2,4-D, just three
months after Monsanto was delivered news it couldn’t swallow.
You can bet Big Ag is nervous.... The herbicide 2,4-D is set to
be examined by twenty-four scientists representing the WHO’s
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The review
will occur at a meeting scheduled for June 2nd– 9th in Lyon,
France.

Scotts Lawn Service Is Really Monsanto In Disguise
GovSlaves - [Monsanto] recently announced a new $300 million
agreement with Scotts Lawn Care, makers of Miracle-Gro and other
lawn care products widely sold at most retail giants, to
continue to find new ways to “deliver consumers with a diverse
range of lawn and garden solutions,” as Kerry Preete, Monsanto
Executive Vice President of Global Strategy, said on the
company’s website. While the rest of the world looks for new
ways to dump Monsanto’s Roundup over confirmation that it is a
likely carcinogen, Scotts is going all-in on Monsanto chemicals
and intent on spreading them around our neighborhoods, lawns,
schools and parks like never before.

Research says: Pesticide spraying may spread food borne
illnesses
(NaturalHealth365) In many cases, it was hard to be sure how
these pathogens were getting onto our fruits and vegetables.
However, disturbing information shared by food technologist
Katharina Verhaelen and her colleagues shows that they might be
getting sprayed onto the produce when it is treated with
pesticides. The water used in the pesticides is often dredged up
from ponds or stagnant pools that are prone to contamination
with fecal pathogens from cattle manure or other sources. This
makes vegetables treated with pesticides not just a chemical
hazard, but also a microbiological health hazard as well.
Pesticides are in effect posing a double risk to those who don’t
eat organic produce and/or fail to wash their produce properly
before consuming it.

Health

A Look At The MMR Vaccine Ingredients
GovSlaves - The MMR vaccine contains three different live
attenuated viruses- rubivirus (measles), parotitis (mumps), and
rubeola (rubella or German measles). There are many steps to
manufacturing the MMR vaccine and a multitude of ingredients
used in the manufacturing of the final product. The MMR vaccine
contains the following ingredients along with remnants of prior
processing. Note the vaccine contains MSG, animal products, and
the antibiotic neomycin. The MMR vaccine also contains human
protein that has been genetically modified....

Study Suggests Homeopathy 'Aided Pain of Cancer Patients Ten
Fold'
Natural Society - A new study has shown a dramatic improvement
in cancer patients who have had to undergo chemotherapy or
radiation who have used homeopathy to alter their ability to
endure fatigue and pain. The study also found that recovery
rates of patients improved between seven and fourteen times when
compared to those who didn’t use homeopathic remedies....
Homeopathy dramatically improved patients’ mental health. Of 373
cancer patients involved in the study, more than half reported
“significant improvement” in their overall health, according to
researchers from the Medical University of Vienna.

Bacteria May Be Remaking Drugs in Sewage
Dr. Mercola - The fact that pharmaceutical drugs exist in
drinking water is no secret. A 2008 Associated Press
investigation found the drinking water of at least 51 million
Americans contained minute concentrations of a multitude of
drugs. Philadelphia, for instance, tested positive for 56
pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water,
including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol,
asthma, epilepsy, mental illness, and heart problems. The city's
watersheds tested positive for 63 different medications or
byproducts. Researchers from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee detected 48 pharmaceuticals at a Wisconsin
water reclamation facility.... What was concerning, however, was
that two of the drugs – carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic drug,
and ofloxacin, an antibiotic – increased in concentration after
going through the treatment process. Carbamazepine increased by
80 percent while ofloxacin increased by 120 percent; the
researchers believe microbes may be to “blame."

Wednesday
- June 3, 2015 - Today in History:

1784 - The U.S. Congress formally created the United States Army to
replace the disbanded Continental Army. On June 14, 1775, the Second
Continental Congress had created the Continental Army for purposes of
common defense and this event is considered to be the birth of the
United States Army.
1800 - John Adams moved to Washington, DC. He was the first President to
live in what later became the capital of the United States.
1805 - A peace treaty between the U.S. and Tripoli was completed in the
captain's cabin on board the USS Constitution.
1888 - "Casey at the Bat" the poem by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first
published.
1932 - Lou Gehrig set a major league baseball record when he hit four
consecutive home runs.
1952 - A rebellion by North Korean prisoners in the Koje prison camp in
South Korea was put down by American troops.
1959 - The first class graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs, CO.
1965 - Edward White became the first American astronaut to do a "space
walk" when he left the Gemini 4 capsule.
1989 - Chinese army troops positioned themselves to began a sweep of
Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen
Square.
2008 - Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
2009 - New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize same-sex
marriage.
2011 - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded when rebel
rockets barraged his palace; he later went to Saudi Arabia for
treatment.
2011 - Physician-assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian died at a
Michigan hospital at age 83.

World News

Russian investigators reveal identity of key witness in MH17 crash
RT- The Russian Investigative Committee has identified a key witness to
the MH17 crash in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region. He is Evgeny Agapov, an
aviation armaments mechanic in the Ukrainian Air Force. The man is
currently under Russian state protection.... Investigative Committee
spokesman Vladimir Markin said. Agapov, a Ukrainian citizen, was serving
as a military mechanic in the first squadron of the Ukrainian Air
Force’s tactical aviation brigade. According to Markin, the man
“voluntarily crossed the state border of the Russian Federation and
expressed a desire to cooperate with the Russian investigation.”

US Set to Deploy Advanced Weapons to Asia-Pacific to Counter China
Sputnik News - The United States plans to relocate advanced military
hardware, including its newest stealth missile destroyer, to the
Asia-Pacific region as tensions are growing between Washington and China
over South China Sea, one of the key waterways globally.... The United
States worries that "China now has an interest in trying to become a
more prominent international power in the region and elsewhere," analyst
William Beeman told Iran's Press TV. According to the expert, Beijing
was focused on its economy and trade with foreign partners, "but it
hasn't really been a strong political power" up until recently.
Washington is concerned that this is about to change.

ISIS, Assad Regime Now Fighting Together In Syria, US Alleges
Zero Hedge - When last we checked in on the situation in Syria, ISIS
(who a secret Pentagon document recently revealed was, and probably
still is, considered a US “strategic asset”) was supposedly on the move,
emboldened by recent successes in the ancient city of Palmyra and the
conquest of Ramadi in Iraq, where, you’re reminded, Iraqi forces showed
“no will” to fight according the Pentagon. Recent reports also indicated
that the militants may have commandeered 2,300 humvees worth more than
$1 billion when the group sacked Mosul last summer, a convenient “loss”
for the US which can now justify four times that amount in arms sales to
allies who will now need to counter a ‘better-equipped’ ISIS.

Ukraine plans to seize Russian foreign property to compensate for ‘lost’
Crimea
RT - Kiev will nationalize Russian overseas property as compensation for
the losses over Crimea’s reunification with Russia, Ukraine’s Deputy
Minister of Justice Natalia Sevostyanova said. The decision is now up to
the European Court of Human Rights. Ukraine will be able to use this
effective instrument if the European Court of Human Rights rules in
favor of Kiev, Sevostyanova told “Channel 5,” Ukraine’s National News (UNN)
reported on Tuesday.

Hacked Emails Expose George Soros As Ukraine Puppet-Master
Zero Hedge - In 3 stunning documents, allegedly hacked from email
correspondence between the hedge fund manager and Ukraine President
Poroshenko, Soros lays out "A short and medium term comprehensive
strategy for the new Ukraine," expresses his confidence that the US
should provide Ukraine with lethal military assistance, “with same level
of sophistication in defense weapons to match the level of opposing
force," and finally explained Poroshenko's "first priority must be to
regain control of financial markets," which he assures the President
could be helped by The Fed adding "I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US
Treasury to sound him out about the swap agreement."

Food, Water, Health, Life: UN Experts Warn of Threats Posed by Secret
'Trade' Deals
Common Dreams - Echoing the protests of civil society organizations and
social movements around the world, a panel of United Nations experts on
Tuesday issued a stark warning about the threats that secret
international "trade" agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
pose to the most fundamental human rights.... The UN experts warn that "ISDS
chapters are anomalous in that they provide protection for investors but
not for States or for the population. They allow investors to sue States
but not vice-versa." Under this framework, states have faced penalties
for "for adopting regulations, for example to protect the environment,
food security, access to generic and essential medicines, and reduction
of smoking, as required under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control, or raising the minimum wage," resulting in a "chilling effect,"
the officials warn.

Greece made ‘difficult concessions’ in new reform plan – Tsipras
RT - Greece’s left-wing government has made several concessions to the
country’s lenders in an updated reform plan that aims to break a
five-month deadlock over a new €7.2 billion austerity deal – and stave
off bankruptcy.... The sides have failed to reach a deal on vital issues
as the labor market and the pension system, while making progress on
value-added tax reform. The sides have failed to reach a deal on vital
issues as the labor market and the pension system, while making progress
on value-added tax reform.

Six Nigerian Central Bankers Arrested In Currency Rigging "Mega Scam"
Zero Hedge - According to Bloomberg, six Nigerian central bankers were
charged with fraud in an 8 billion naira ($40.2 million with an m, not a
b, not a tr) currency "scam." No chat rooms here, just a plain old "mega
scam involving the theft and recirculation of defaced and mutilated
currencies,” the Abuja-based Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
said in a statement dated Sunday on its website. In addition to the
central bankers, among those charged are also sixteen commercial bankers
who conspired with Central Bank of Nigeria regional executives.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Is the End of Section 215 of the Patriot Act Much Ado about
Nothing? 7 Ways the NSA can Keep Spying
AllGov - Section 215 was “only one of a number of largely
overlapping surveillance authorities, and the loss of the
current version of the law will leave the government with a
range of tools that is still incredibly powerful,” reported the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Likewise, the American
Civil Liberties Union says the loss of 215 won’t impact the
“government’s ability to conduct targeted investigations of
terrorist threats.” EFF provided many examples of how the
government can still conduct authorized surveillance of
individuals...

Four reasons why the Freedom Act is WORSE than the Patriot Act
Lew Rockwell Blog - By a vote of 67-32 the Senate today passed
the USA FREEDOM Act, just days after the expiration of key
elements of the USA PATRIOT Act. The FREEDOM Act is billed as a
reform of the unconstitutional and recently-ruled illegal bulk
collection of Americans’ telecommunications, but in fact it is a
whole new level of attack on civil liberties. Here are just a
couple of ways the FREEDOM Act is worse than the PATRIOT Act...

Congress turns away from post-9/11 law, retooling U.S.
surveillance powers
Washington Post - Congress on Tuesday rejected some of the
sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national
security officials after the 9/11 terror attacks, with the
Senate voting to end the government’s bulk collection of private
telephone records and reform other surveillance policies. The
bill, known as the USA Freedom Act, passed on a 67-to-32 vote,
against the will of Senate Republican leaders who wished to
preserve existing spy programs.

Rand Paul Wants Classified Docs Exposing Saudi Connection to
9/11 Released
Sputnik News - Republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has
joined a group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives who
are pushing for the publication of 28 pages from the official
report on the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 which have remained
classified for more than a decade. For years a growing group of
congress members have called on the government to release the
pages, which pertain to foreign government involvement in the
9/11 attacks, and which they claim point to Saudi Arabian
government involvement in their financing. "We all are calling
today for the release of these 28 pages," Paul said on Tuesday
as he introduced the bill, titled "The Transparency for the
Families of 9/11 Victims Act."

*Wanted* Dead or Alive: $100,000 for Full Text of Trans-Pacific
Partnership
Common Dreams - The media outlet Wikileaks on Tuesday announced
a campaign to raise a $100,000 cash reward for the complete text
of the agreement in order to end the mystery surrounding the
actual contents of the deal that involves the U.S. and eleven
Pacific Rim nations.... Despite unprecedented efforts by
negotiating governments to keep it under wraps, WikiLeaks has
been able to obtain and publish three leaked chapters of this
super-secret global deal over the last two years. However, there
are believed to be 26 other chapters of the deal to which only
appointed negotiators, trade officials, and chosen
representatives from big corporations have been given access....
And with the U.S. House of Representatives returning to
Washington, D.C. this week to pick up a bill that would give
trade promotion authority, or Fast Track, to President Obama the
call for someone to leak a complete version of the latest draft
has new urgency. * Related Video:
Democracy Now!: Julian Assange on the TPP

Pentagon Also Received Anthrax Sample Sent Out by Military Lab
Sputnik News - The latest site confirmed to have received a
shipment from the batch found to contain live spores was the
Pentagon, although as of Tuesday, defense officials have stated
that there is no indication that the particular samples they
received contained live spores. US Department of Defense (DoD)
spokesperson Col. Steven Warren told Sputnik in a statement
Tuesday that the DoD used the anthrax samples to develop a
field-based test to "identify biological threats in the
environment." However, NBC reports that the spores were shipped
to Pentagon's police force, which planned to use them in testing
and calibrating detection equipment for incoming mail.

FBI behind mysterious surveillance aircraft over US cities
AP - The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of
low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at
times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind
fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The
Associated Press has learned. The planes' surveillance equipment
is generally used without a judge's approval, and the FBI said
the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a
recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities
in 11 states across the country... U.S. law enforcement
officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the
aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies,
such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW
Services. Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from
the public in censored versions of official reports from the
Justice Department's inspector general.

Bomb Threats Made Against 5 Planes on Tuesday, Part of Hoax Wave
Breitbart - Bomb threats were made against five different
aircraft, from five different airlines, on flights either
originating or landing in the United States on Tuesday.
Officials say all five of the threats were “non-credible,” part
of a surge in hoax bomb threats in progress since Memorial Day.
NBC News says all the “threats of chemical explosives” were
“phoned” in. UPI clarifies that at least one of the threats,
against U.S. Airways Flight 648 from San Diego, California to
Philadelphia International Airport, was received by telephone at
the Transportation Security Agency headquarters in Washington,
D.C.

Economy & Business

2 Things That Are Happening Right Now That Have Never Happened
Outside Of A Recession
Economic Collapse - If we are not heading into a recession, why
does our economy continue to act as if that is precisely what is
happening? As you will see below, we learned this week that
factory orders have declined year over year for six months in a
row. That is something that has never happened outside of a time
of recession. We have also seen new orders for consumer goods
fall dramatically. In fact, the only time we have seen a more
dramatic decline in that number was during the last recession.

Health insurers seek big premium hikes for ObamaCare plans in
2016
Fox News - Dozens of health insurers selling plans under
ObamaCare have requested hefty premium increases for 2016,
according to preliminary information published Monday by the
White House. The insurers have cited higher-than-expected care
costs from customers they gained under the ObamaCare's coverage
expansion and the rising cost of prescription drugs and other
expenses as reasons for proposing the increases, many of which
are in the double-digit percentages. Among the market leaders,
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is seeking a
roughly 26 percent premium increase, while plans in Illinois and
Florida, among other states, are asking for hikes of 20 percent
or more. In Pennsylvania, Highmark Health Insurance Co. is
asking for a 30 percent increase.

Fed Mouthpiece Jon Hilsenrath Furious "Stingy" US Consumers
Refuse To Buy The "Recovery" Propaganda
Zero Hedge - No commentary necessary on this piece originally
posted on the Wall Street Journal by Jon Hilsenrath... Dear
American Consumer, This is The Wall Street Journal. We’re
writing to ask if something is bothering you. The sun shined in
April and you didn’t spend much money. You have been saving more
too. You socked away 5.6% of your income in April after taxes,
even more than in March. This saving is not like you. What’s
up?... The Federal Reserve is counting on you too. Fed officials
want to start raising the cost of your borrowing because they
worry they’ve been giving you a free ride for too long with zero
interest rates. We listen to Fed officials all of the time here
at The Wall Street Journal, and they just can’t figure you out.

Science & Technology

STUDY: Painkillers, Anti-Anxiety Medications Linked To Increased
Risk Of Homicide
CBS News - For the first time ever, scientists have linked
prescription drugs that affect the central nervous system to an
increased risk of committing a homicide. European researchers
found that people who were taking a class of tranquilizers
called benzodiazpines were more likely to kill someone than
those who were not taking these medicines, reports Live Science.
hose drugs are used to treat anxiety, insomnia and panic
disorders. Pain relievers such as opioid medications and anti-inflammatories
were also found to increase a person’s risk of homicide. “I
think that these chemical substances affect the impulse control
of the person,” Dr. Jari Tiihonen, lead author and a professor,
told Medical Daily. “The only surprising result was that
painkillers also increase the risk.” * Related:
Certain medications cause people to commit murder… homicide risk
increased by 31% to 200%

Facebook Just Announced a Controversial Move that is Going to
Infuriate the Police State
Free Thought Project - Monday morning, Facebook announced its
own encryption service. According to the Facebook announcement:
To enhance the privacy of this email content, today we are
gradually rolling out an experimental new feature that enables
people to add OpenPGP public keys to their profile; these keys
can be used to “end-to-end” encrypt notification emails sent
from Facebook to your preferred email accounts. People may also
choose to share OpenPGP keys from their profile, with or without
enabling encrypted notifications. PGP stands for Pretty Good
Privacy. It’s actually very good privacy. If used correctly, it
can protect the contents of your messages, text, and even files
from being understood even by well-funded government
surveillance programs.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Fungi pesticide offers non-toxic alternative to chemical
pesticides
(NaturalNews) A patent for a pesticide made from mushrooms was
granted in 2006. This pesticide is safe, nontoxic and can
control over two-hundred thousand types of insects. Fungi are
known to cause insect diseases and the use of spores from fungi
has been known for over 100 years. Previous patents were granted
as far back as 1992 for fungal ant killers and termite control.
In 2014, pesticides were a $16 million dollar business. A
fungi-based pesticide is safer to use, safer for the planet, and
has no lasting effect on the plants or planet.

Health

Antibiotics cause peripheral neuropathy plus other damaging side
effects
(NaturalHealth365) A stunning 1 in 15 Americans – that’s 20
million people – have peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral
neuropathy refers to issues with the peripheral nervous system
that leads to nerve damage and symptoms such as muscle tingling,
numbness and muscle weakness.... While the causes of peripheral
neuropathy are primary linked to diabetes, a recent article in
the Journal Neurology reported that the risk of peripheral
neuropathy doubles in anyone who takes fluoroquinolones.
Fluoroquinolones are a class of antibiotics with a host of
alarming side effects; one of the most prescribed has the brand
name Cipro.

Watercress kills cancer cells and offers potent cancer
protection
(NaturalNews) The key to the anticancer properties of watercress
nutrition likely arises from the vegetable's ability to pump up
the antioxidant level in the bloodstream. Watercress is known to
be an exceptional source of the known antioxidant vitamins A and
C. It is also an excellent source of vitamin K, critical to bone
health. In addition, watercress is packed with zeaxanthin and
lutein. These carotenoid nutrients are heralded for their
abilities to protect cardiovascular health and safeguard vision.
Antioxidants are widely believed to protect DNA from the kind of
damage associated with the development of cancer cells.

Food Alert: Toxic Beetles Being Found In Organic Salad Greens In
Canada and U.S.
Netasha Longo - Insects are a staple food in many diets around
the world, however Iron Cross Blister Beetles are usually not on
the menu. Food Inspection Agencies in Canada and the United
States are on alert after the toxic beetles have been turning up
in organic salads and packages of leafy greens. There are
several reasons to grow your own organic food, and pest control
is often one of them. Although rare, fresh produce can harbour
insects that may be injurious to consumers. The Iron Cross
Blister beetle is very distinctively coloured, with a bright red
head and bright yellow markings on the wings, separated by a
black "cross". If found in any produce, this particular beetle
should be treated with caution as it may release an irritating
chemical called "cantharidin", a chemical which may cause
blisters at the point of contact.

Tuesday
- June 2, 2015 - Today in History:

1774 - The Quartering Act, which required American colonists to allow
British soldiers into their houses, was reenacted.
1835 - P.T. Barnum launched his first traveling show. The main
attraction was Joice Heth who was supposedly the 161-year-old nurse of
George Washington.
1851 - Maine became the first U.S. state to enact a law prohibiting
alcohol.
1883 - The first baseball game under electric lights was played in Fort
Wayne, Indiana.
1886 - Grover Cleveland became the second U.S. president to get married
while in office. He was the first to have a wedding in the White House.
1924 - All American Indians were granted U.S. citizenship by the U.S.
Congress.
1953 - Elizabeth was crowned queen of England at Westminster Abbey.
1954 - U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that there were communists
working in the CIA and atomic weapons plants.
1957 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed by CBS-TV.
1995 - Captain Scott F. O'Grady's U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by
Bosnian Serbs. He was rescued six days later.
1998 - Royal Caribbean Cruises agreed to pay $9 million to settle
charges of dumping waste at sea.
2003 - In Seville, Spain, a chest containing the supposed remains of
Christopher Columbus were exhumed for DNA tests to determine whether the
bones were really those of the explorer. The tests were aimed at
determining if Columbus was currently buried in Spain's Seville
Cathedral or in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that companies could not be sued
under a trademark law for using information in the public domain without
giving credit to the originator. The case had originated with 20th
Century Fox against suing Dastar Corp. over their use of World War II
footage.

World News

NATO in E. Europe: 6,000 in Lithuania war games, Polish HQ doubles
troops
RT - Lithuania is conducting its biggest military exercises since
joining NATO in 2004. Meanwhile, 200 extra troops are set to arrive at
the alliance’s headquarters in Eastern Europe, located in Szczecin,
Poland.... Lithuania is one of 13 countries participating in the
exercise, which will involve about 6,000 troops performing manoeuvers in
three Baltic states and Poland until June 19. During the two-stage
exercise, land and air forces will carry out joint operations in the
field, and then commanders will conduct a separate computer simulation
of a regional conflict.

Greece to invest $2 bn in Turkish Stream, will sign memorandum asap -
Energy Minister
RT - Greece plans to sign a document on political support for Gazprom’s
Turkish Stream project at the St. Petersburg International Economic
Forum in June, its Energy Minister announced on Monday. The country
plans to invest $2 billion in its construction.... Russian president
Vladimir Putin has previously expressed his belief that, by joining the
project, Greece could become one of the main power distribution centers
in Europe. Athens could earn hundreds of millions of euros annually from
gas transit fees, Putin said during Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’
official visit to Moscow in April.

Europe Shocked When Russia Does To It What Europe Did To Russia
Zero Hedge - The EU issued a press release this morning which could
perhaps be summed up in 2 words - "not fair." Following the
denial-of-entry by Russia of several EU politicians, Russia has released
a list of 89 names who will face travel bans - of exactly the same type
as EU and US enforced upon numerous Russian elites. Europe is displeased
that Russia would dare do unto them as they have done unto others... "we
deem this measure as totally arbitrary and unjustified," they exclaimed,
adding, "we don’t have any further information on the legal basis or the
criteria or the process of these decisions."

US Navy Wants to Bomb Pagan Island, Obliterating Rare Wildlife
Sputnik News - A pristine patch of green in the middle of the Pacific,
Pagan Island is home to number of endangered animals and largely
untouched black sand beaches. The Pentagon wants to turn this ecological
sanctuary into a bombed-out training ground, all because of an alleged
Chinese threat in the South China Sea.... The Pentagon insists that it
needs the island – far less populated than nearby Guam, where the US
also leases land for military training – because of a potential
“rebalance” in the Pacific. This refers to Washington’s growing concern
about Beijing’s dominance in the region. Particularly in the South China
Sea, where the Chinese government is busy building a series of
artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Rule By The Corporations
Paul Craig Roberts - The Transatlantic and Transpacific Trade
and Investment Partnerships have nothing to do with free trade.
“Free trade” is used as a disguise to hide the power these
agreements give to corporations to use law suits to overturn
sovereign laws of nations that regulate pollution, food safety,
GMOs, and minimum wages. The first thing to understand is that
these so-called “partnerships” are not laws written by Congress.
The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to legislate,
but these laws are being written without the participation of
Congress. The laws are being written by corporations solely in
the interest of their power and profit. The office of US Trade
Representative was created in order to permit corporations to
write law that serves only their interests. This fraud on the
Constitution and the people is covered up by calling trade laws
“treaties.”

U.S. is Obligated by Treaty to Defend 67 Foreign Countries
AllGov - The United States is obligated by treaty or otherwise
to come to the defense of 67 other countries if they’re
attacked, according to The Myth of Entangling Alliances (pdf) by
Michael Beckley. Those obligations include obvious ones such as
to Israel, with which the U.S. has no formal treaty, but has
made many pledges of support. But it also includes Cuba, which
only last week came off the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
As a member of the Organization of American States, Cuba is a
potential beneficiary of U.S. military support if it’s attacked…
The idea that the United States is the world’s older brother,
ready to take care of any bullies that show up on a street
corner, is relatively recent. For the first 165 years of its
existence, the United States had one such treaty, signed with
France during the Revolutionary War, according to Beckley.

Pentagon's anthrax scandal spreads to Washington, D.C., Canada
USA Today - The Pentagon has learned that additional samples of
live anthrax were sent to three laboratories in Canada, two
Defense officials confirmed Monday evening. That means that
specimens of the deadly Bacillus anthracis have been sent to
labs in 12 states, the District of Columbia and three countries.
The samples came from the U.S. Army lab at Dugway Proving Ground
in Utah. The number of laboratories known to have 'mistakenly'
receiving samples of live anthrax has grown to at least 28 labs
in 12 states and the District of Columbia, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

Patriot Act Provisions Expire, But Government Surveillance Will
Continue
Opposing Views - The expiration of Section 215, the Patriot Act
provision used by the National Security Agency to justify its ..
bulk phone records collection program, was the most significant
outcome of the debate… The expiration also removes the
government’s ability to use a roving wiretap without multiple
warrants, as well as the ability track “lone wolf” terrorist
suspects. The expiration of these provisions can be viewed in
one of two ways: as a small but significant victory for civil
liberties in America, or as a potentially catastrophic national
security risk. The most likely scenario, however, is that the
expiration of these provisions will be incredibly brief. The
Senate is expected to pass the USA Freedom Act in a session on
Tuesday, in which it will need only a simple majority of 51
votes rather than the 60-vote threshold it needed on Sunday.

Rand Paul: My Opponents ‘Secretly Want’ Terror Attack ‘So They
Can Blame It On Me’ [VIDEO]
Daily Caller - While addressing the Senate Sunday, Sen. Rand
Paul said that opponents of his efforts to end the NSA’s bulk
data collection and force an expiration of the Patriot Act
“secretly want” a terror attack on the U.S. so they can blame
Paul for it. Paul said that would be like blaming the Boston
police commissioner for the Boston bombings. RAND PAUL: People
here in town think I’m making a huge mistake. Some of them, I
think, secretly want there to be an attack on the United States
so they can blame it on me. One of the people in the media the
other day came up to me and said, “oh, when there’s a great
attack aren’t you going to feel guilty that you caused this
great attack?” It’s like the people who attack us are
responsible for attacks on us.

Police state America's national railroad police
MassPrivateI - Privately run 'secret' railroad police have
trained 85 SWAT teams in 13 states! Private railroad police
officers licensed in every state, have been accused of physical
assaults, racial profiling and harassment according to lawsuits,
interviews and court records. The records and interviews show
that there have been numerous complaints and dozens of lawsuits
filed against railroad police officers in recent years....
Private rail lines CSXT, BNSF, KCS, UP, and others maintain
their own private police. The Amtrak Police is the largest with
more than 450 sworn officers who undergo training at FLETC. They
are armed with Glock 22 .40-caliber pistols and no less than 100
5.56mm Bushmaster Patrolman’s carbines.

TSA failed 95% of tests attempting to smuggle mock explosives
and banned weapons in airports
The Independent -The Department of Homeland Security sent its
so-called Red Teams to pose as passengers and attempt to smuggle
the fake explosives and weapons through airport security, and it
almost always worked. Homeland Security conducted 70 of these
tests and the TSA failed 67 times, according to ABC News.
Officials did not say when the tests were conducted, only
reporting that the investigation was recently concluded.

Government Wipes Recent Vaccine Injury Data from Website
Sharyl Attkisson - In March, the federal government removed the
latest vaccine injury court statistics—more than a year’s worth
of data—from one of its publicly reported charts. It was an
abrupt departure from the normal practice of updating the
figures monthly. Wiping the latest data means the “adjudication”
chart on a government website no longer reflects the recent,
sharp rise in court victories for plaintiffs who claimed their
children were seriously injured or killed by one or more
vaccines.

Veteran News

Houston declares end to veteran homelessness
Al Jazeera - Houston announced Monday that it had effectively
ended veteran homelessness, seven months before the White
House’s ambitious goal to house every veteran nationwide. The
fourth-largest city in the U.S., Houston is the first of the
nation’s 40 biggest cities to meet the target. Phoenix, Salt
Lake City and New Orleans said they have already reached it.

Economy & Business

Kyle Bass Was Right: Texas To Create Own Bullion Depository,
Repatriate $1 Billion Of Gold
Zero Hedge - State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione asking the
Legislature to create a Texas Bullion Depository, where Texas
could store its gold. The goal is to create a secure facility
that would allow the state to bring home more than $1 billion in
gold bars that are owned by UTIMCO and are now housed at HSBC in
New York.... “We are not talking Fort Knox,” Capriglione said.
“But when I first announced this, I got so many emails and phone
calls from people literally all over the world who said they
want to store their gold … in a Texas depository.... House Bill
483 would let the Texas comptroller’s office establish the
state’s first bullion depository at a location yet to be
determined.

Ex-Im Bank is Welfare for the One Percent
Ron Paul - This month Congress will consider whether to renew
the charter of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank). Ex-Im Bank
is a New Deal-era federal program that uses taxpayer funds to
subsidize the exports of American businesses. Foreign
businesses, including state-owned corporations, also benefit
from Ex-Im Bank. One country that has benefited from $1.5
billion of Ex-Im Bank loans is Russia. Venezuela, Pakistan, and
China have also benefited from Ex-Im Bank loans. With Ex-Im
Bank’s track record of supporting countries that supposedly
represent a threat to the US, one might expect neoconservatives,
hawkish liberals, and other supporters of foreign intervention
to be leading the effort to kill Ex-Im Bank. Yet, in an act of
hypocrisy remarkable even by DC standards, many hawkish
politicians, journalists, and foreign policy experts oppose
ending Ex-Im Bank.

Energy & Environment

Texas sunshine reveals flood devastation across state (Photos)
CBS News - Most of Texas was set to get its first period of
extended sunshine in weeks, allowing surging rivers to recede as
emergency-management officials turn their attention to cleanup
efforts in such places as Houston, where damage estimates top
$45 million. Parts of the state were finally beginning to
recover Sunday from weeks of rain and flooding that have made
Texas a place of extremes: severe drought conditions earlier in
the year that have given way to unprecedented rainfall in some
areas. At least 31 people have been killed in storms that began
in Texas and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend. Twenty-seven of
the deaths have been in Texas, and at least 10 people were still
missing over the weekend.

Disaster: California’s Sierra Snowpack Hits 0% of Normal
Breitbart - California’s record drought took a stunning turn for
the worse last week: on Thursday, the snowpack in the Sierra
Nevada mountains officially disappeared.... The Sierra Nevada
snowpack is one of the most crucial sources of surface water for
California cities and farms, and without it, the state is in
serious trouble. The state relies on the melted snow in summer
to get it through months without rain; now, with the start of
summer still a few weeks away, California will be without its
most traditionally dependable water source.

6/01/2015 — Rare NORTH POLE Earthquake — 5.2 magnitude strikes
near new undersea volcano
Dutchsinse - A very rare, and most likely volcanic related
earthquake has struck near the exact NORTH POLE of the planet.
Of course they’re not going to show the North pole, since this
would raise everyone’s suspicions about earthquake activity
picking up, being that this earthquake was less than 270 miles
from the exact geographic polar North of the planet, people
might start to ask questions the USGS doesn’t want to answer
right now. Questions might get asked like, “why are you not
warning people that there is increased seismic unrest taking
place, and that people should be preparing for larger coming
movement?!”

VIDEO: Revealed: Clintons Bagged $3.4 Million for 18 Speeches
Funded by Keystone Pipeline Banks
Breitbart - Environmentalists’ head-scratching over Hillary
Clinton’s refusal to take a hard stand against the Keystone XL
pipeline may soon cease, as a Monday Huffington Post report
confirms findings in Clinton Cash revealing that the Clintons
have bagged millions of dollars in speaking fees from some of
the Keystone XL pipeline’s largest investors. And according to
Clinton Cash, during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Sec. of State,
Bill Clinton delivered 10 speeches from Nov. 2008 to mid-2011
totaling $1.8 million paid for by one of the largest investors
in the Keystone Pipeline, TD Bank, which held a $1.6 billion
investment in the Keystone XL pipeline. “TD Bank was also on the
hook for $993 million it had loaned to TransCanada,” reports
Clinton Cash. For months, environmental groups have struggled to
understand Hillary Clinton’s refusal to condemn the Keystone XL
pipeline.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Victory! Federal Judge Rules to Uphold GMO Ban in Oregon
Natural Society - Jackson County, Oregon is ahead of the curve
when it comes to GMOs. The county successfully passed a GMO ban
in 2014 after a group of local petitioners in Oregon called GMO-Free
Jackson County, filed petitions with over 6,700 signatures in
January of 2013. The initiative also called on the county to
provide inspections and allow enforcement through citizen
lawsuits. Of course, Monsanto tried to overturn the ban with a
lawsuit of their own, but a federal judge has declared the GMO
ban will stand.

How to Preserve Fresh Herbs in Coconut Oil
Health Impact News - It’s undeniably great to have an abundant
herb garden at your fingertips, but what if you have more herbs
ready for harvest than you are ready to use? Nothing need be
lost, and with a little bit of coconut oil, an ice cube tray and
a freezer, you can save your lovely bouquet of herbs for later,
but still enjoy the same fresh flavor you would expect the
morning you picked them.

8 Garden Flowers That Chase Away Vegetable-Eating Bugs
Off the Grid News - The idea of companion planting has been
around for a long time. The idea is to plant plants in close
proximity to each other if they do not compete and if they can
provide mutual benefits for each other. One of the most widely
cited examples of companion planting is one that was commonly
practiced by North American aboriginal peoples. Corn, squash and
pole beans are commonly referred to as “the three sisters”
because they can benefit each other when planted together.
Flowers can also be companion plants.

Survival/Preparedness

Florida Court Rules “Off Grid” Living Illegal
The Daily Sheeple - Robin Speronis had been living in an
off-grid home for many years without incident, until she was
interviewed by a local FOX affiliate in November of 2013.
Shortly thereafter, the city of Cape Coral tagged a “notice to
vacate” on her property, due to multiple code violations, all of
which stem from the fact that her home isn’t connected to water,
sewage, or the electrical grid. The city has tried to argue that
she is in violation of the International Property Maintenance
Code for relying on rainwater and solar panels, instead of
utilities. Since that time, Speronis has been fighting the
courts for her right live off the grid. Magistrate Harold Eskins
recently ruled that she can live without using water or
electricity, but she still has to be connected to these
utilities no matter what.

Health

New N.C. House Bill Seeks to "Study" Issue of Vaccine Exemptions
Natural Blaze - A new North Carolina House bill, introduced at
the heels of the defeated Senate Bill 346, seeks to “study” the
issue of vaccine exemptions, along with other issues related to
an increasing load of childhood vaccines required of babies in
North Carolina. The bill, HB-589, introduced by Democrat
Representative Beverly Earle, has five other sponsors and seeks
to study vaccine/autism links, along with the pros and cons of
allowing exemptions to parents opposed to government
mandates.... Several groups have pointed out in recent weeks
that this study bill is a classic technique pharma lobbyists use
to “clear cut” all opposition before a more potent bill is
introduced to skip the debate process and go straight into a
vote.

Chemical Companies to Write Own Chemical Safety Standards
Natural Society - With bill S.697, the chemical industry is
about to be given free reign to write their own safety
standards.... Congress hasn’t passed a chemical control bill
since 1976, with the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). But
this was even ‘broken from the start,” according to the
Environmental Working Group (EWG). The TSCA grandfathered in
thousands of chemicals that were already on the market at the
time, even though most of them were extremely hazardous to human
health. That act didn’t even allow the EPA to ban asbestos,
which is a known cause of cancer. This new bill would
essentially give companies like Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and
Syngenta the authority to call their own toxic chemicals ‘safe’
when regulatory bodies elsewhere have called them carcinogenic,
and even deadly. S.697 is the brainchild of a chemical industry
that has spent $190 million lobbying for its passage.

New studies: Blueberries could increase life span by 22 years
(NaturalHealth365) Blueberry extracts have shown a tremendous
capacity to assist with DNA repair at deep and robust levels.
Our DNA repair capacity is essential to longevity, and a joint
study by the United States Department of Agriculture with other
organizations found that blueberry compounds are so effective at
supporting this process that they may increase life span by an
average of 28%, or around 22 years in humans.

Monday
- June 1, 2015 - Today in History:

1774 - The British government
ordered the Port of Boston closed.
1789 - The first U.S. congressional act on administering oaths became
law.
1792 - Kentucky became the 15th state of the U.S.
1796 - Tennessee became the 16th state of the U.S.
1861 - The first skirmish of the U.S. Civil War took place at the
Fairfax Court House, Virginia.
1877 - U.S. troops were authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.
1916 - The National Defense Act increased the strength of the U.S.
National Guard by 450,000 men.
1921 - A race riot erupted in Tulsa, OK. 85 people were killed.
1942 - The U.S. began sending Lend-Lease materials to the Soviet Union.
1944 - The French resistance was warned by a coded message from the
British that the D-Day invasion was imminent.
1961 - Radio listeners in New York, California, and Illinois were
introduced to FM multiplex stereo broadcasting. A year later the FCC
made this a standard.
1963 - Governor George Wallace vowed to defy an injunction that ordered
the integration of the University of Alabama.
1978 - The U.S. reported the finding of wiretaps in the American embassy
in Moscow.
1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news
station.
1998 - In the U.S., the FDA approved a urine-only test for the AIDS
virus.
2008 - The Phoenix Mars Lander became the first NASA spacecraft to scoop
Martian soil.
2009 - General Motors filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The filing made
GM the largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy protection.

World News

US-Trained Special Forces Chief Joins ISIS, Vows To Bring Jihad To
Russia & America
Zero Hedge - Meet Gulmurod Khalimov, the US-trained and funded former
commander of Tajikistan's special forces, who, as Reuters reports, has
now gone to Syria to fight with ISIS. He has a message: "Listen, you
American pigs, I’ve been three times to America, and I saw how you train
fighters to kill Muslims...God willing, I will come with this weapon to
your cities, your homes, and we will kill you." The big question is -
was he 'recorded' as a moderate when America considered funding and
training his elite special forces unit?

HRW: New evidence Saudi-led coalition uses cluster bombs in Yemen
RT - Human Rights Watch has published new evidence alleging the Saudi
Arabian-led coalition in Yemen has been using internationally-outlawed
cluster bombs. The organization says innocent civilians have been
targeted in the raids. The New York-based organization visited the Saada
province in the north of Yemen this month in order to compile its
report. Human Rights Watch says it managed to document the use of three
types of cluster munitions in the country…This is not the first time
Human Rights Watch has alleged the Saudi-led coalition’s use of cluster
bombs during the conflict. The organization also alleges the US has been
supplying the munitions used to bomb Houthi positions in Yemen.

Russia Wards Off "Provocative And Aggresive" US Warship In Black Sea
Zero Hedge - While we are used to hearing of the 100s of "close
encounters" between NATO and Russian planes, but, as reported by state
news agency RIA - citing an anonymous source in Russia's armed forces,
Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that
was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea. This appears to be the first
reported ship-to-plane 'encounter' and, just as US and China tensions
are escalating in the South China Sea, it appears US and Russian
military 'discussions' are shifting from words and proxy-fighting.

China Will Establish No-Fly Zone Over Islands If "Threatened"
Zero Hedge - "Whether we will establish an ADIZ in the South China Sea
will depend on whether our maritime security will be threatened," Adm.
Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army said
at a security event in Singapore on Sunday. China also claims its
man-made islands in the Spratlys are primarily for providing
"international public services." Its regional neighbors aren't so sure.

Russian Pivot: Greece Will "Probably" Join BRICS Bank, Official Says
Zero Hedge - Greece still has one card left to play in fractious
negotiations with creditors: the so-called 'Russian pivot'. Over the
course of difficult talks between Syriza and the troika Moscow has, at
various times, sought to take advantage of the hostilities between
Athens and Brussels by making a series of overtures including the
possibility of Greece joining the BRICS bank. Now, at least one Greek
official says the country will likely accept the invite.

UK: Thousands of teenage girls enduring debilitating illnesses after
routine school cancer vaccination
The Independent - In the HPV category alone, ADRs [Adverse Drug
Reaction] numbered 8,228, of which 2,587 were classified as “serious” –
defined by several criteria, including whether it resulted in
hospitalization or was deemed life threatening… The NHS says the
programme has proved to be “very effective”. However, other countries
are taking action following reports of increasing numbers of girls
suffering side effects. A Danish TV documentary broadcast earlier this
year highlighted the large number of girls who appear to have been
affected following their HPV vaccination… Last year, Japan withdrew its
recommendation for the HPV vaccine because of reported side effects.

Unethical' UN health plan to reduce deaths discriminates against old
people, claim medical experts
The Independent - A United Nations plan to reduce deaths from a range of
diseases is “highly unethical” because it discriminates against people
aged 70 and over, according to leading medical experts. In a letter
published in The Lancet on Friday, they warn that proposals to reduce
premature mortality from non-communicable diseases such as cancer,
stroke and dementia threaten to undermine “cherished, fundamental
principles of universality and health as a right for all” because they
only include deaths of people aged 69 or less. “Put simply, it tells
policy makers, particularly in poorer countries that older people do not
matter,” the letter says.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Goodbye Section 215: Patriot Act key surveillance provisions
expire
RT - Controversial provisions of the Patriot Act authorizing
government surveillance programs have expired after the Senate
failed to vote for an extension. The Senate will reconvene to
consider the USA Freedom Act on Monday afternoon. Lawmakers have
debated the possibility of extending the authority of Section
215, that authorizes bulk data collection, and other provisions
in the extraordinary Sunday afternoon session. The debate
started at 4:00 pm local time, eight hours before the expiration
deadline. * Related:
Video: Rand Paul Speaks Out Against the PATRIOT Act

Texas Legislature Passes Campus Carry Bill
Breitbart - The Texas Legislature has passed SB 11, the Campus
Carry Bill, and sent the bill on to Governor Greg Abbott for
signature. The Senate passed the Conference Committee report on
Saturday by a vote of 20-11. The bill cleared the final hurdle
with passage in the Texas House by a vote of 98-47.... Breitbart
Texas’ Cassi Pollock reported the Senate’s passage of what many
are calling a watered down version of the bill. She reported the
bill “gives public universities more authority for where and how
concealed handguns are permitted on campus. In addition, private
universities would be allowed to opt out of campus carry
altogether.”

Texas Legislature Passes Historic Bill Decriminalizing Truancy
Breitbart - The Failure to Attend School, or “truancy” would no
longer be a criminal offense under a historic bill that passed
both chambers of the Texas Legislature on Saturday, May 30.
Currently, Texas remains only one of two states to continue
prosecuting minors for truancy. It is currently a Class C
misdemeanor for which schoolchildren are prosecuted, punished
and fined for cutting classes and missing school. Their futures
are often jeopardized by criminal records over unlawful
absenteeism.... Under this bill, they would look at the
underlying issues behind truancy — like homelessness, chronic
illness or unidentified special education needs.

Massive Dirty Bomb Exercise Set For June: “We Are Clearly Seeing
An Undeniable Buildup To A So Far Unknown Event”
Alex Thomas - A massive simulated dirty bomb attack exercise is
set to take place at the end of June in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Operation Northern Exposure will include over 1,000 Michigan
National Guard soldiers and will be the first time in history
that local authorities have worked with the National Guard.
According to WoodTV, the drill will use a city landfill as the
site for the simulated dirty bomb attack and a middle school for
the “decontamination center.”

VIDEO: New Sandy Hook Questions Arise from FOIA Hearing
David Knight - School security consultant, Wolfgang Halbig,
joins us for a live interview to discuss his investigation into
Sandy Hook. After being stonewalled for 19 months, he was
finally granted a FOIA hearing a month ago. We talk to him about
what he learned from the first FOIA hearing and what answers he
hopes to get in the hearing scheduled for next week.

Obama Announces Draconian, Unconstitutional Gun Regs by
Executive Fiat
Kit Daniels - “It’s clear President Obama is beginning his final
assault on our Second Amendment rights by forcing his anti-gun
agenda on honest law-abiding citizens through executive force,”
Luke O’Dell, the vice president of political affairs at the
National Association for Gun Rights, told The Hill. In
particular, the Justice Dept.’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) wants to revive a 1998 proposal
that would ban those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence
from owning a gun.... The ATF also wants to revoke gun rights
from those the government declares “mentally unfit,” which is
easy to do because the official diagnostic system for mental
disorders in the U.S., the DSM-5, is so broad that almost every
form of human behavior can be “diagnosed” as some type of mental
illness.

Is The Stock Market Overvalued?
Economic Collapse - By just about any measure that you could
possibly name, stocks are at historically high prices right now.
From a technical standpoint, the stock market is more overvalued
today than it was just prior to the last financial crisis. The
only two moments in U.S. history that even compare to our
current state of affairs are the run up to the stock market
crash of 1929 and the peak of the hysteria just before the
dotcom bubble burst. It is so obvious that stocks are in a
bubble that even Janet Yellen has talked about it, but of course
she will never admit that the Federal Reserve has played a key
role in creating this bubble. They say that hindsight is 20/20,
but what is happening right in front of our eyes in 2015 is so
obvious that everyone should be able to see it.

Kiss It Goodbye: Social Security Benefits Will Be Cut In 2017
GovSlaves - No matter who wins the White House in 2016, there’s
no getting around it: Social Security benefits will be cut
starting in 2017. A 1983 pact between President Reagan and the
Democrat-led Congress to stave off an imminent Social Security
financing crisis included a hike in the official retirement age
from 65 to 67 somewhere in the far-off future.... Yet despite
the coming rise in the retirement age, Social Security’s cash
deficit is set to explode to $361 billion in 2025 from $74
billion in 2014, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. * Related:
Bush: Retirement Age Should Be Phased In To 68 Or 70

Energy & Environment

6/01/2015 — Large 5.8 magnitude earthquake strikes West Coast
United States / Oregon
Dutchsinse - A noteworthy magnitude 5.8 earthquake has struck
off the shores of Oregon along the West coast of the United
States. This earthquake was forecast to occur this week,
forecast issued 2 days ago. This area was warned for larger
earthquake activity to strike off the shores of Oregon in the
Pacific Northwest on May 29th. Now a 5.8M hits off the shores of
Oregon in the Pacific Northwest on June 1,2015. Within the past
24 hours, we saw two West coast earthquakes which led up to this
movement near the coast or Oregon.... This 5.8M earthquake is
proof that the warning signs for a coming large earthquake show
up 1-2 days before the noteworthy movement on the West coast
occurs.

Science & Technology

14,000 Websites Have Blocked Congress from Accessing Their
Pages: Here's Why
The Daily Sheeple - As of Friday afternoon, over 14,000 websites
have blocked Congressional access to their pages, instead
directing them to a protest page. The massive move is an effort
to show Congress that its push for continued surveillance via
the Patriot Act and USA Freedom Act is unwelcome. Facilitated by
Fight for the Future (a non-profit internet advocacy group), the
process works by identifying IP addresses that originate from
Congress. When a Congressional IP is detected, whatever website
the user attempted to access redirects to blackoutcongress.
There, the site declares, “Congress: this is a blackout.” It
explains to members of Congress (and presumably, their staff)
why they were redirected: “We are blocking your access until you
end mass surveillance laws. You have conducted mass surveillance
of everyone illegally and are now on record for trying to enact
those programs into law.”

FCC Proposes Giving Free Internet Access to the Poor. Get Ready
for "ObamaNet"
The Blaze - The head of the Federal Communications Commission is
proposing that the government agency expand a phone subsidy
program for the poor to include Internet access. The FCC
Chairman Tom Wheeler, has emphasized that Internet access is a
critical component of modern life, key education, communication
and finding a keeping a job.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Biotech shills posing as economists try to boost GMO sales by
proposing subsidies for junk food and taxes for organic food
(NaturalNews) As reported by The Daily Caller, economists who
are allegedly "environmentally savvy" are suggesting that
growers of organic foods in the state be taxed, as if that will
solve the water crisis. According to this line of thinking,
organic farms are not as efficient with their use of water as
"conventional" (as in, GMO-producing) farms, say economists with
the Property and Environment Research Center and the Hoover
Institution. These economists say that pricing that
"inefficiency" into organic products will lead consumers will
use less of them. In other words, they propose punishing people
who want a healthier choice of foods and products as well as the
growers who provide them.

Consumer alert: GMO apples and potatoes are a public health risk
(NaturalHealth365) Now newly developed GMO apples and potatoes
that do not brown are a new threat to the health of humans and
animals everywhere. These apples and potatoes use double
stranded RNA (dsRNA) to disable the browning genes inside their
structure. Shocking revelation: The Institute for Responsible
Technology states that Brazilian researchers fed little bits of
dsRNA to honey bees in their youth. The dsRNA used was taken
from jellyfish and is not normally found in bees. While
researchers didn’t expect anything interesting to happen, what
they found was after eating just one meal with the foreign dsRNA,
the honey bees became radically different in their health, their
physiology, and their behavior.

These ‘Big 6′ Chemical Companies Now Make 50,000 Different
Pesticides
Natural Society - Globally, there are now more than 50,000
different pesticides being manufactured with over 600 ‘active’
ingredients – and yet we still have pests. How can this be?...
Almost everything we eat in the conventional diet is subject to
manifold doses of the chemicals – pesticides, fungicides,
herbicides, and more. Some crops get the brunt of pesticide
contamination with cereal crops such as wheat being baptized an
estimated five to eight times during just one growing season,
while other foods are subject to lower doses. (Check out the
Environmental Working Group’s 2015 Dirty Dozen list to discover
the 12 most pesticide-laden produce as well as the 15 cleanest
produce.

Health

Glyphosate Causes Cancer: EPA “Trade Secret” Sealed Files Reveal
Cancer Link Known Back in the 1970s
Health Impact News - Dr. Anthony Samsel was recently interviewed
by Tony Mitra, where he discussed certain documents he has in
his possession from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
that allegedly show Monsanto knew about research connecting
glyphosate to cancer since the 1970s. Dr. Samsel states that the
documents he received from the EPA are "trade secret" documents
belonging to Monsanto. These documents allegedly are safety
studies about glyphosate from the late 1970s to the early 1980s,
and others beyond those dates. Monsanto allegedly asked the EPA
to seal these documents as "trade secrets" so no one else could
review the data from these studies.

Diabetic Neuropathy CAN Be Treated! 6 Natural Solutions
Natural Society - Neuropathy, or damage to the peripheral or
autonomic nerves, is a common complication of diabetes. This not
only causes losses in sensory and motor function, but can also
lead to debilitating pain and even foot ulcers which may in turn
lead to amputation. While conventional treatment is limited to
good foot and nail hygiene, early detection of potential ulcers
and strong painkillers such as antiepileptics and opioids,
research has found that nutritional supplements are capable of
even reversing nerve damage.

Sunscreen Manufacturers And Dermatologists Depend On You Being
Misinformed So They Can Sell Their Snake Oil
Marco Torres - If you align yourself with the misinformation
that comes out of the sunscreen and cancer industries and
combine that with the absurd advice from dermatologists, you get
a wonderful cocktail of nonsense sure to accelerate any cancer
you may be trying to prevent. Then again, that's what the cancer
industry wants. Not only does blocking the sun's rays from
reaching your skin dramatically reduce optimal vitamin D levels,
but when you use any conventional sunscreen, it's like spreading
cancer right into your skin. Here's why "sun damage" is a term
you should erase from your vocabulary and learn how to avoid 6
harmful ingredients. Related: EWG"s 2015 Guide to Sunscreens

MAY 2015

Friday
- May 29, 2015 - Today in History:
1789 - A regular army was
established by the U.S. War Department with several hundred men.
1829 - The first public appearance by London's re-organized police force
was met with jeers from political opponents. The force became known as
Scotland Yard.
1962 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy nationalized the Mississippi
National guard in response to city officials defying federal court
orders. The orders had been to enroll James Meredith at the University
of Mississippi.
1967 - The International Monetary Fund reformed monetary systems around
the world.
1982 - In Chicago, IL, seven people died after taking capsules of
Extra-Strength Tylenol that had been laced with cyanide. 264,000 bottles
were recalled.
1983 - The War Powers Act was used for the first time by the U.S.
Congress when they authorized President Reagan to keep U.S. Marines in
Lebanon for 18 more months.
1984 - Irish officials announced that they had intercepted the Marita
Anne carrying seven tons of U.S. purchased weapons. The weapons were
intended for the Irish Republican Army.
1988 - The space shuttle Discovery took off from Cape Canaveral in
Florida. It was the first manned space flight since the Challenger
disaster.
1990 - "Millie's Book" by First Lady Barbara Bush was the best-selling
non-fiction book in the U.S.
1994 - The U.S. House voted to end the practice of lobbyist buying meals
and entertainment for members of Congress.
2008 - The Dow Industrial Average lost 777 points. It was the largest
one-day decline to date. The drop came after the U.S. House of
Representatives had voted down a $700 billion bank bailout plan.
2010 - In China, Canton Tower became operational.

World News

Russia Will Respond to NATO's Missile Defense Buildup in Europe –
General
Sputnik News - Russia will adequately respond to what it sees as an
“unrestrained expansion” of NATO’s missile defenses, a top defense
ministry official said on Friday. “In a situation of an unrestrained
expansion of NATO’s missile defense shield, capable of intercepting the
Russian ICBMs, Russia will, as we have repeatedly warned, find it
necessary to adequately respond to this expansion,” General Anatoly
Ivanov told a news briefing in Moscow.

Islamist militants capture last Syrian govt stronghold in Idlib province
RT - Islamist militants have claimed full control over the strategic
Syrian city of Ariha, with government forces admitting withdrawal from
their last stronghold in Idlib province after heavy clashes with
al-Qaeda affiliated groups. Ariha, once a city of some 40,000 people and
up until now the last remaining under government control in the Idlib
province, bordering Turkey, has fallen to the rebels, Syrian television
reported citing army sources.

Japan volcano eruption triggers highest alert, locals' evacuation
(VIDEO)
RT - A sudden volcano eruption on the small southern Japanese island of
Kuchinoerabu-jima has forced authorities to raise the alert to the
highest level and advise evacuation of the immediate area. Residents
have fled by boat to the nearest neighboring island.... Mount Shindake
suddenly erupted at around 10:00 a.m. local time, sending a large plume
of black smoke some 9,000 metersinto the sky. The Japan Meteorological
Agency has issued a level five warning for the area, the highest on its
scale.

Stuxnet 2.0: US launches cyber attack on Iran’s oil ministry
Hang The Bankers - Iran has foiled a hacking attack on its Ministry of
Petroleum, which originated from the US, head of the Iranian Cyber
Police has said.The website of Cyber Police (FATA) quoted Gen. Kamal
Hadianfar as saying that the hackers had launched their attack during
holidays in Iran.... “The IP used by the hackers originated from America
which we have announced to (the Americans) in a formal letter. We have
also submitted an international court order which is being followed by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Hadianfar added.

BRICS summit in Russia to launch New Development Bank & currency pool -
Putin
RT - Russia expects to launch the $100-billion BRICS New Development
Bank along with a currency reserve pool worth another $100 billion at
the July summit in Ufa, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. We expect
to reach agreement in Ufa on the launch of practical operations of the
BRICS Bank and a pool of currency reserves," Putin said on Thursday at a
ceremony to receive the credentials of ambassadors of foreign states,
TASS reports.

EU threatens 11 members with court if they fail bank recovery program
RT - The European Commission may subpoena eleven countries, including
France and Italy unless they implement a directive to protect taxpayers
from the aftermath of financial crisis and shift the burden of paying
debts of struggling lenders to shareholders. Bulgaria, the Czech
Republic, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Malta,
Poland, Romania and Sweden missed the deadline set by the commission and
haven’t applied the the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD)....
The directive is designed to protect taxpayers from having to bail out
problem-plagued lenders, making creditors and shareholders commit to the
rescue in a process known as "bail-in".

It's Official: Austria Repatriates Gold, Confirms Loss Of Faith In Bank
Of England
Zero Hedge - Earlier today the Austrian Central Bank confirmed the
Kronen-Zeitung report, and said that by the year 2020, it would hold
50%, or 140 tons, of its gold domestically, up from 17% currently. This
means that Austria will withdraw some 140 tons of gold from the BOE
which holds 80% of Austria's gold currently and send 92.4 tons back home
to Vienna with another 47.6 tons being sent to Switzerland. Which is
also the biggest news: Austria is explicitly demonstrating a lack of
confidence in the "pro-western" system of which the Bank of England is a
critical cog, and instead opting for "neutral" Switzerland, which will
hold nearly 50 tons of the gold formerly located at the Bank of England.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Immigration Overhaul May
Be in Limbo Until Late in Obama’s Term
NY Times - President Obama’s overhaul of the nation’s
immigration system, which he announced in a prime-time speech to
the nation last November, may remain under a cloud of legal
uncertainty until months before he leaves office in 2017, legal
experts and administration officials said Wednesday. Officials
from the Justice Department said in a statement that they would
not ask the Supreme Court for permission to carry out the
president’s immigration programs — which seek to provide work
permits and deportation protection to millions of undocumented
immigrants — while a fight over presidential authority plays out
in the lower courts. That legal battle may extend for a year or
more, officials said, undermining any hope of putting the
president’s plan into effect until right before the 2016
election.

Thanks to #BlackLivesMatter, More Black People are Now Being
Killed in Baltimore
Paul Joseph Watson - Thanks to last month’s riots and looting,
which were advocated by many corners of the #BlackLivesMatter
movement, more black people are dying in Baltimore as a result
of massively reduced police patrols and criminals feeling more
emboldened. The city is currently undergoing its deadliest month
in 15 years, with a 31-year-old woman and a young boy becoming
the 37th and 38th homicide victims. Arrests have dramatically
fallen, with police afraid to detain suspects because they
“often have 30 to 50 people surrounding them at any time” and
fear getting arrested themselves for making mistakes, according
to Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. “So far this month,
arrests are down roughly 56 percent. Police booked just 1,045
people in the first 19 days of May, an average of 55 a day. In
the same time period last year, police arrested 2,396 people, an
average of 126 a day,” reports the Associated Press.

Student Punished for Bringing Hot Pepper to School
Adan Salazar - The family of a Long Island student is suing his
high school after administrators punished him for bringing hot
peppers to lunch. The mother of Nick Lien, a 10th grader at
Centereach High School, says her family has a healthy
appreciation for spicy food.... Nick had brought ghost peppers
to school and made the mistake of allowing his
less-spicy-tolerant classmates to try them.... “I was told that
it’s equivalent to giving someone LSD,” Nick said. “I was
shocked, because I didn’t realize that giving someone a pepper
could get me into as much trouble as I was in.” The Liens’
attorney asserts the school overstepped their boundaries in
attempting to regulate the type of foods a student can bring to
lunch.

Election News

Hillary Clinton's GMO Ties Spark
Backlash in Iowa
Natural Society - GM corn and soy are at the heart of Iowa’s
economy, but people are still ditching Clinton like yesterday’s
trash. This was evidenced recently at a meeting of the
Tri-County Democrats, where members gauged support for the
former secretary of state. As one website reports: “A large
faction of women voiced strong support for Mrs. Clinton’s
candidacy until the GMO issue came up, prompting them to switch
allegiances to Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, a liberal
stalwart challenging her for the Democratic nomination. “I was
surprised, because these women were really pushing for Hillary
until they found out about the Monsanto connection, and then
they dropped her like a hot potato,” said James Berge,
Democratic Party chairman for Worth County, Iowa.”

Economy & Business

Pentagon Spent $176Bln to Create Jobs
Overseas Instead of US
Sputnik News - The US Department of Defense has spent $176.8
billion over the past eight years buying foreign imports through
more than 307,000 waivers to the Buy American Act, US Senator
Chris Murphy aid in a press release published on Thursday. Buy
American Act waivers are intended to allow US federal agencies
to purchase goods or services from foreign companies, but only
in extraordinary circumstances. “Everywhere I go in Connecticut,
people are outraged that their taxpayer dollars are being used
to create jobs overseas, instead of here in America.”

In Shocking Move, Goldman Slashes America's Long-Run "Potential
GDP" From 2.25% To 1.75%
Zero Hedge - Having recently cut its estimate of US trend
productivity growth to 1.5%, in a shocking move earlier today,
Goldman admitted US trend growth is far less than previously
speculated and lowered its long-term potential GDP. The bank
says: "after adjusting for a drag from government sector
productivity and incorporating an updated assessment of trend
labor force growth, we now see long-run potential GDP growth at
1¾%, half a percentage point below our prior estimate." This is
a huge deal as Goldman just recalibrated every single economic
(i.e., inflation, employment) and financial (i.e., bond rates,
leverage) equation by more than 20%, not to mention the amount
of implied residual slack in the economy. In short, an
absolutely massive amount!

McDonald's is Losing so Much Money it Stopped Telling Us How
Much
Natural Society - As Bloomberg reports in an article entitled
“McDonald’s to Stop Reporting Monthly Same-Store Sales Data,”
the move has come after 11 straight months of declining sales.
Specifically, the fast food titan has even been forced to close
more than 700 stores. Meanwhile, the sales of organic food
continue to boom. It’s part of the new health paradigm that
millions around the world continue to adapt — a system in which
real, organic food reigns supreme.

Monsanto’s Biggest Fears Are Coming True
Off the Grid News - One of America’s most popular and fastest
growing “fast-casual” chains, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:
CMG), has decided to stop using any GMO ingredients – and it’s
but the latest blow to biotech giants such as Monsanto. The
restaurant chain sent out a press release noting that all the
ingredients served at its taco and burrito restaurants and its
subsidiary, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, are now non-GMO....
Chipotle is also one of the hottest investments on Wall Street.
Its stock was trading at $621.08 a share on May 26. Fast food
industry observers blame the recent troubles at McDonald’s on
the success of “fast-casual” chains like Chipotle.

An American Indian Prophecy Coming True
Activist Post - Dane Wigington of GeoEngineeringWatch.org
answered some definitive questions in the hour-long conference
call regarding “The Push For Legal Action To Expose Climate
Engineering,” [Video] which I encourage everyone who breathes to
listen to.... Dane points out that the Texas weather problems of
late May 2015 have been seen on radar and are due to generated
frequencies associated with weather manipulation.... However, at
one place in the conference call, a gentleman from Toronto,
Canada, phoned in to say that the tops of the trees in Toronto
are dying or dead! That comment struck me to the core and
reminded me of an American Indian prophecy I had heard umpteen
years ago, which was attributed to the Hopi Tribe. What I had
heard stated was that humans would know the end times were near
when the trees were dying from the top down. * Related:
Evidence Texas Floods and Loss of Life Caused by Weather Weapons
* Photos
from the Flooding in
Wimberley, TX sent to us from Susan

VIDEO: 'Heartbreaking': More Rain on
the Way as Search for Texas Flood Victims Goes On
NBC News - Rescue crews have already pulled more than 100 people
from rushing floodwaters in Texas, some of them swept downstream
more than 10 miles, Lt. Gov. Dan Perkins said Thursday. But
rivers are still rising, and more rain is on the way. In
Wharton, an hour outside Houston, hundreds of people were being
asked to leave their homes Thursday because of danger posed by
the swollen Colorado River. Outside Dallas, hundreds more were
encouraged to leave as the Brazos River rose.

Science & Technology

US Special Forces Are Experimenting
With Bug Drones
Defense One - If you hear this tiny flying bug drone buzzing
around your head, an Army Special Forces team might not be far
behind. The 18-gram PD-100 Black Hornet from Norway’s Prox
Dynamics can bear regular and thermal cameras about a kilometer
and stay aloft more than 25 minutes.... The PD-100 has been in
operational use for three years, including wide use by British
Brigade Reconnaissance Force in Afghanistan. “This is what they
use when they check out enemy compounds,” said Arne Skjaerpe,
CEO and president of Proxdynamics USA.

Governments Eye New Stingray-Detecting System
Mikael Thalen - A new system designed to detect and track IMSI
catchers, commonly referred to as “Stingrays,” is grabbing the
attention of Western governments as revelations of widespread
cellular surveillance continue to emerge. IMSI catchers, known
best for their use by law enforcement, are suitcase-sized
devices that mimic cell towers in order to capture anything from
a mobile phone’s current location to text and voice data....
Fearing deployment by foreign and rogue actors, who have the
ability to build such devices for less than $1,500, governments
have now approached those same security experts to acquire “Overwatch,”
the first real-time IMSI catcher detection system.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Crops being drenched with
cancer-causing glyphosate immediately before harvest
(NaturalNews) Vast quantities of non-organic crops are
deliberately doused with the carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate
(trade name Roundup) in order to provide farmers with a more
profitable harvest.... The practice of killing good crops with
Roundup right before harvest is described in a 2010 paper by
Roundup manufacturer Monsanto. The purpose, the company says, is
to cause the crops to all die at the same time, thus drying
uniformly and providing an earlier and more profitable harvest.
"Uneven maturity and green tissue delays harvest," the paper
reads, directing the reader's attention to photographs showing
the "uniform" and "complete" desiccation of fields of corn and
sunflowers killed by Roundup. * Related:Call to action on a
Monsanto Roundup class action suit

Health

Remove intestinal parasites with these
effective natural remedies
(NaturalNews) Many people tend to assume that intestinal
parasites are a Third World problem, but the truth is that they
also affect millions of people in the Western world. In fact,
intestinal parasites have risen to epidemic levels in the United
States.... Diatomaceous earth is arguably the most effective
natural anti-parasitic remedy available today. A naturally
occurring sedimentary rock that is usually sold in powdered
form, diatomaceous earth has a long history of use as a natural
insecticide and pesticide. It is believed to work by dehydrating
parasites in the intestinal tract, allowing our bodies to
excrete them painlessly.

Coconut Water: A New Alzheimer's Disease Treatment?
Green Med Info - We have reported previously on coconut oil and
Alzheimer's research, but it appears another coconut product:
coconut water, which contains no fatty acids of physiological
relevance, may also have great value for those suffering with
Alzheimer's disease. Coconut water is one of nature's best forms
of hydration due to its isotonic properties (it is able to pass
through cell membranes easily). And while the focus on brain
health has been primarily on brain structures, e.g. neurons,
brain plaque, etc., little focus has been on the role of water
in brain health, and particularly dehydration as a factor in
chronic neurodegeneration illness. * Related:How To Buy The
Healthiest Coconut Water And Avoid The Worst!

19 Second Breathing Technique Induces Sleep ‘Almost Instantly’
Natural Society - Of all the relaxation techniques, one can
utilize none is as effective and fast-working as breathing
techniques.... “The 4-7-8 breathing technique was pioneered by
Dr. Andrew Weill from Arizona, who describes the yoga-inspired
method as ‘utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no
equipment and can be done anywhere.’ Dr.Weill claims that 4-7-8
breathing can help people fall asleep in just 60 seconds by
acting as a ‘natural tranquilizer for the nervous system’ that
reduces stress and tension in the body.”

Pet News

Texas Flood: Lost Pets Need Your Help To
Find Their Humans
HNGN - Tons of lost pets lost in the Texas floods are relying on you to
help them be reunited with their humans in this disaster! Facebook pages
2015 Flood Houston Volunteers for Lost and Found Pets and Wimberley
Adoption Group & Rescue are flooding - both literally and figuratively -
with posts of worried humans who lost their furry friends in the storm.
The Austin Animal Center, which is already over capacity, keeps being
brought more pets every day but they were forced to close their doors,
reported My Pawsitively Pets. Some amazing humans, despite the tragedy,
are opening their doors to become temporary foster parents and give the
homeless animals a dry place to stay for the night.... For those outside
Texas who want to help these animals contact Texas based rescues, such
as Lost Dogs Of Texas, to send blankets and food for the animals.

1805 - Napoleon was crowned in Milan, Italy.
1863 - The first black regiment left Boston to fight in the U.S. Civil
War.
1892 - The Sierra club was organized in San Francisco, CA.
1900 - Britain annexed the Orange Free State.
1918 - Azerbaijan declared independence.
1928 - Chrysler Corporation merged with Dodge Brothers, Inc.
1929 - Warner Brothers debuted "On With The Show" in New York City. It
was the first all-color-talking picture.
1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario, to
Olivia and Elzire Dionne. The babies were the first quintuplets to
survive infancy.
1937 - President Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, DC, signaling
that traffic could cross the newly opened Golden Gate Bridge in
California.
1940 - During World War II, Belgium surrendered to Germany.
1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers
to move to Los Angeles and that the New York Giants could move to San
Francisco.
1961 - Amnesty International, a human rights organization, was founded.
1976 - The Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty was signed, limiting any
nuclear explosion - regardless of its purpose - to a yield of 150
kilotons.
1977 - Fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate,
KY. 165 people were killed.
1985 - David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in
Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers. Freed 17 months
later.
1995 - An earthquake in the Russian town Neftegorsk killed at least 2000
people. It had a magnitude of 7.5.
1996 - U.S. President Clinton's former business partners in the
Whitewater land deal were convicted of fraud.
1998 - Pakistan matched India with five nuclear test blasts. The U.S.,
Japan and other nations imposed economic sanctions. Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif said "Today, we have settled the score with
India."
1998 - Dr. Susan Terebey discovered a planet outside of our solar system
with the use of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
1999 - In Milan, Italy, Leonardo de Vinci's "The Last Supper" was put
back on display after more than 20 years of restoration work.
2002 - Russia became a limited partner in NATO with the creation of the
NATO-Russia Council.

World News

Who Would Win A Conflict In The South China Sea: The Infographic
Zero Hedge - As regular readers are no doubt aware, the US and China are
racing towards a maritime conflict stemming from Beijing’s construction
of what Washington has condescendingly called “sand castles” in the
Spratly archipelago. Atop these man-made islands are cement plants, air
strips, and soon-to-be lighthouses, as China boldly asserts its
territorial claims on what are heavily-contested waters though which
trillions in seaborne freight pass each year. Now, with Beijing set to
enforce what is effectively a no-fly zone over its new sovereign
‘territory’ we bring you the following graphic from WSJ which shows that
when it comes to sheer size, China’s air force and Navy are beyond
compare.

Russia, Venezuela agree on massive $14bn oil & gas investment deal
RT - President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro says his country has reached
an agreement with Russia, which will see investment of $14 billion in
the oil and gas sector over the next few years. The agreement was
reached between the Venezuelan state oil firm, PDVSA (Petroleos de
Venezuela) and the Russian oil giant, Rosneft, after talks in the South
American country’s capital, Caracas, between Maduro, the president of
PDVSA, Eulogio Del Pino, and the president of Rosneft, Igor Sechin.

Australian Media Spies Imaginary Weapons in South China Sea
Sputnik News - As tensions continue to rise in the South China Sea,
Australian media outlets are reporting that China has installed weapons
on its artificial islands. This despite citing no evidence, and despite
the fact that Beijing has consistently stressed that the islands will be
used for peaceful purposes. On Tuesday, Japan announced that it would
join in the Talisman Sabre, joint military exercises typically conducted
by the United States and Australia. The newly formed trifecta of Pacific
allies was largely seen as the latest in an attempt to bolster defenses
against an alleged Chinese threat.

Netanyahu demands ‘up to $45 bn’ in US military aid for Israel to deter
Iran, Gulf States
RT - Israel is hoping to receive $4.2-$4.5 billion a year in military
aid from the United States for ten years, to counter the threat from
Iran and oil-rich Middle East states that have been re-arming rapidly, a
senior Israeli source has told Defense News. Under a 10-year deal signed
in 2007, Israel receives just over $3 billion a year in American aid,
with stipulations that over 70 percent of that aid has to be spent
buying US military hardware. An extension of that agreement, running to
2028, was principally agreed on by Barack Obama during a visit to Israel
in 2013, but according to Haaretz, talks on its terms have been
“preliminary and unofficial.”

Greece likely to miss payment deadline as talks stall - Bloomberg
RT - Greece may miss a deadline for a deal with creditors this week, as
the parties haven’t made any progress in talks, Bloomberg sources close
to the negotiations said, accelerating fears of an Athens default.
Greece remains too far from striking a debt deal with its international
creditors, unnamed sources who wished to remain anonymous told
Bloomberg. Last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Francois Hollande set a target to reach a deal by the end of
May. As the stalemate in negotiations drags on, Greece is losing
liquidity and the economy is being pushed deeper into recession. Deposit
withdrawals are growing rapidly, and inability to make debt payments
have aroused new doubts about the country’s ability to stay in the
eurozone.

World Trade Organization to force Taiwanese citizens to eat radioactive
food from Fukushima
(NaturalNews) Japan could turn to the globalist World Trade Organization
to force Taiwan to import seafood and other products that might be
tainted with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
In recent days, the government of Taiwan began imposing stricter rules
on inspecting food products imported from Japan that might have
originated from areas exposed to radioactive fallout from the crippled
plant. That prompted the Japanese government to warn that it could call
on the WTO for a trade ruling unless Taiwan eases up on its
restrictions.

UK Psychiatrist Is Calling for Psychedelic Drugs to Be Reclassified
Motherboard - In the UK, psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin
are more legally restricted than heroin and cocaine. In an editorial in
the BMJ medical journal, one psychiatrist writes that it’s time that
changed. James J H Rucker of Kings College London calls for psychedelics
to be reclassified, so that researchers can more easily conduct trials
with the drugs as potential treatments for psychiatric disorders such as
anxiety, depression, and addiction. He writes that the classification of
psychedelic drugs in 1967 as schedule 1, class A substances—the most
strictly controlled—“denoted psychedelic drugs as having no accepted
medical use and the greatest potential for harm, despite the existence
of research evidence to the contrary.” The drugs are placed in schedule
1 in the US, too.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Here's how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the
TPP bill
The Guardian - Using data from the Federal Election Commission,
this chart shows all donations that corporate members of the US
Business Coalition for TPP made to US Senate campaigns between
January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the TPP was being
debated in the Senate: Out of the total $1,148,971 given, an
average of $17,676.48 was donated to each of the 65 “yea” votes.
The average Republican member received $19,673.28 from corporate
TPP supporters. The average Democrat received $9,689.23 from
those same donors. The amounts given rise dramatically when
looking at how much each senator running for re-election
received. * Related:
How Your U.S. Senator Voted on Fast-Tracking Obama Trade

Pentagon “Accidentally” Shipped Live Anthrax to Labs in 9 States
Daily Sheeple - Today in “I can’t believe this is happening
again” news, the Pentagon has admitted that – oops – the U.S.
military accidentally shipped samples of live anthrax to private
research labs in nine states.... The samples were shipped to
labs in California, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Maryland,
Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York last week. An
official said that a laboratory in Maryland detected that their
shipment contained live samples and contacted the CDC. The CDC
said the anthrax was being used to develop a test in case
someone used the bacteria as part of a bioterror attack... Live
anthrax is supposed to be handled in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3)
lab – one that is equipped to protect people from the bacteria
and from the spores it produces.

Open and Shut? Aurora Shooter James Holmes’ Notebook Released to
the Public on Wednesday
Daily Sheeple - What is being hailed as “the Aurora movie
theater shooting’s most critical piece of evidence,” the 35-page
notebook now marked People’s Exhibit #341 that accused shooter
James Holmes allegedly mailed to his psychiatrist just prior to
the July 20, 2012 attack has now been released in full to the
public.... The notebook translates to an open-and-shut case with
Holmes’ mental illness history and the deleterious effect of
psychotropic medications all laid out from start to murderous
finish, in addition to specific details of how he would carry
out his heinous crime....
The 35-page
document can be read here.

Election News

Supreme Court to consider redefining 'one-person, one-vote'
principle
USA Today - The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to define what it
meant by "one person, one vote" a half century ago. The justices
will consider a challenge brought by two rural voters in Texas
who claim their state Senate ballots carry less weight than
those cast in urban areas with large numbers of non-citizens
ineligible to vote. Under the current system in nearly all
states, state legislative districts are drawn with roughly equal
populations. The standard dates back to decisions made by the
Supreme Court in the early 1960s. If the justices change the
standard from total population to legal voters, illegal and some
legal immigrants would not be counted, along with children and
most prisoners who have committed felonies. That would equalize
the power of each vote but result in districts of unequal
population.

Economy & Business

LA Labor Leader Pushing For Unions To Be Exempted From $15...
Truth in Media - As Los Angeles legislation mandating a $15/hr.
minimum wage reaches finalization, the leader of one of the
country’s largest union federations has abruptly called for a
provision that would exempt unions from the mandate.... The Los
Angeles Times noted that union activists have spent several
months pushing back against consideration of special provisions
for certain business owners, including restaurant owners. Some
small business owners had argued earlier this year that the
minimum wage hike would leave few options to absorb the
additional cost of doing business. A similar city ordinance that
specifically regulates wages at large hotels in LA contains an
exemption for hotels with a unionized workforce.

Energy & Environment

Clean Water Act: EPA Mandate Places 60 Percent Of U.S. Waters
Under Control Of The Federal Government
The Inquisitr - EPA officials and the United States Army have
announced a new regulation pertaining to the Clean Water Act.
The Clean Water Rule clarification details exactly what types of
bodies of water fall under the stringent protections enacted by
the federal government. The new rules will reportedly apply to
60 percent of waters in the United States.... The Clean Water
Act and the newly proposed EPA regulations mean that pond and
streams located on private property could soon be controlled not
by the landowners that pay taxes on the property, but the
federal government agency.... The controversial Clean Water Act
has been deemed nothing more than a water rights power grab by
some Americans. The EPA mandates could ultimately permit the
federal government to control streams, ditches, gullies, and low
spots where just a little bit of water collects on a seasonal
basis.

Recovery effort continues after flooding in Texas and Oklahoma;
death toll rises to 19
Washington Post - Residents and authorities on Wednesday
continued to recover from devastating storms, trying to learn
the extent of the damage while searching for people still
believed missing. Meanwhile, additional rainfall loomed, and
officials near Dallas warned early Wednesday about a possible
dam breach. Just a day after flooding was responsible for at
least 19 deaths, more rain was expected in areas including
Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Texas dam on Padera Lake ‘breaches’ following massive floods
RT - A Texas dam on Padera Lake has fractured as a result of
unprecedented flooding, local media report. Authorities are
issuing warnings, as the dam may break in the coming hours,
placing anyone in its path in peril. Local media has been
sounding the alarm, with CBS affiliate KRLD reporting the dam
had been breached at around 12pm GMT. However, no immediate
danger was reported.

Science & Technology

Yahoo must face email spying class action: U.S. judge
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge ordered Yahoo Inc to face a nationwide
class-action lawsuit accusing it of illegally intercepting the
content of emails sent to Yahoo Mail subscribers from non-Yahoo
Mail accounts, and using the information to boost advertising
revenue. n a decision late Tuesday night, U.S. District Judge
Lucy Koh in San Jose, California said people who sent emails to
or received emails from Yahoo Mail subscribers since Oct. 2,
2011 may sue as a group under the federal Stored Communications
Act for alleged privacy violations.

TISA: Yet Another Leaked Treaty You've Never Heard Of Makes
Secret Rules for the Internet
Activist Post - TISA completes a trifecta of trade agreements
that the administration could sign under Fast Track without full
congressional oversight.... As far as we know, it presently
includes twenty countries plus Europe (but notably excluding the
major emerging world economies of the BRICS bloc), who, with
disdainful levity, have adopted the mantle “the Really Good
Friends of Services”. Like its sister agreements, TISA will
enact global rules that impact the Internet, bypassing the
transparency and accountability of national parliaments. The
only difference is that its focus is on services, not goods.

IRS Blames Taxpayer Data Breach On Russian "Crime Syndicates"
Zero Hedge - "The IRS believes that a major cyber breach that
allowed criminals to steal the tax returns of more than 100,000
people originated in Russia", CNN says, in what amounts to an
escalation of what Washington claims is a cyberwar against a
growing list of so-called "cyberadversaries."

Got a wearable? Almost anybody can track you using simple
technology
PandoDaily - Wearable products need to transmit data to
function. Many don’t work without a connection to a smartphone.
And because it would be silly to walk around with a cord between
the devices, that connection is made via Bluetooth Low Energy.
Context Information Security has found that these connections
can be used to identify smartwatches, fitness trackers, and
other products that rely on BLE. And they’ve released an Android
app that can track these signals to prove it. Here’s how
Context’s Scott Lester explained the issue to Help Net Security:
‘Using cheap hardware or a smartphone, it could be possible to
identify and locate a particular device – that may belong to a
celebrity, politician or senior business executive – within 100
meters in the open air. This information could be used for
social engineering as part of a planned cyber attack or for
physical crime by knowing peoples’ movements.’

Airlines Spraying Fliers With Pesticides Inside the Plane
Natural Blaze - Have you ever felt sick after a flight but
couldn't pin it as a virus? Do you ever feel like a bug? A few
countries require pesticide spraying on flights, yet most
countries have quietly reserved the right to do so with or
without "need." Many spray for "passenger safety" from rodents
and insects - however, bug sprays are among the worst chemicals
for human exposure.[1] Previously, flight attendants told Mother
Jones that it had nothing to with safety but keeping up
appearances - who would want to see pests in their plane? But,
is it really necessary to spray you while you're on board?

10 Health Benefits of Black Seed (Nigella Sativa) - Part 1
Natural Society - You may or may not have heard of Black seed (nigella
sativa) before. It goes by many names, including black caraway,
Roman coriander, and black cumin, to name a few. But no matter
what you call it, these seeds are loaded with health benefits
that we are only beginning to understand. From eliminating
harmful bacteria to regenerating the body’s cells and tissues,
here are 10 awesome research-backed health benefits of black
cumin.

Pet News

FDA pulled the Rug Out From Under Pet Food Consumers
Susan Thixton - The one thing FDA did to help consumers know the
difference between a pet feed and a pet food is gone - without warning.
FDA has left us absolutely defenseless against marketing lies of pet
food. Over this past weekend, I received a tip that FDA has ended the
pet food human grade ingredient verification process (known as FDA
Letter of No Objection). This devastation to pet food consumers was
confirmed yesterday by the Pet Food Committee of AAFCO. (Questions were
sent to FDA, more than 24 hours ago – they have not responded.)

Wednesday
- May 27, 2015 - Today in History:

1813 - Americans captured Fort George, Canada.
1907 - The Bubonic Plague broke out in San Francisco.
1919 - A U.S. Navy seaplane completed the first transatlantic flight.
1933 - In the U.S., the Federal Securities Act was signed. The act
required the registration of securities with the Federal Trade
Commission.
1935 - The U.S. Supreme Court declared that President Franklin
Roosevelt's National Industrial Recovery Act was unconstitutional.
1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to pedestrian
traffic. The bridge connected San Francisco and Marin County.
1941 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited
national emergency" amid rising world tensions.
1941 - The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by British naval and air
forces. 2,300 people were killed.
1944 - U.S. General MacArthur landed on Biak Island in New Guinea.
1969 - Construction of Walt Disney World began in Florida.
1986 - Mel Fisher recovered a jar that contained 2,300 emeralds from the
Spanish ship Atocha. The ship sank in the 17th century.
1988 - The U.S. Senate ratified the INF treaty. The INF pact was the
first arms-control agreement since the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation
Treaty (SALT I) to receive Senate approval.
1995 - In Charlottesville, VA, Christopher Reeve was paralyzed after
being thrown from his horse during a jumping event.
1996 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin negotiated a cease-fire to the
war in Chechnya in his first meeting with the leader of the rebels.
1997 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the sexual harassment suit
filed by Paula Jones could continue while President Clinton was in
office.
1998 - Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years in prison for not
warning anyone about the plot to bomb an Oklahoma City federal building.
1999 - In The Hague, Netherlands, a war crimes tribunal indicted
Slobodan Milosevic and four others for atrocities in Kosovo. It was the
first time that a sitting head of state had been charged with such a
crime.
2010 - Universal Studios reopened its back lot. The area had been
destroyed by a fire two years before.

World News

NATO General Warns, Putin Is A “Dangerous Gambler… Willing To Use
Nuclear Weapons”
Zero Hedge - Hot on the heels of George Soros’ warnings that we stand on
the verge of World War 3, demanding Washington back off its anti-Yuan
pressure, it appears “the good guys” are fighting back with their own
good-cop, bad-cop propaganda. As Sputnik News reports, General
hans-Lothar Domrose, NATO Commander of the Brunssum Allied Joint Force
Command, said in an interview with German magazine Focus Online that
Russian President Vladimir Putin is a tough-minded, forward-thinking
politician who is capable of foreseeing situations, but also regards him
as a dangerous “gambler,” who “is willing to use nuclear weapons against
NATO troops.”

US Troops Ready to ‘Fight Tonight’ in Korea - General
Sputnik News - US forces in South Korea are ready to deal with any
unpredictable threat from North Korea, US Army Pacific (USARPAC) Deputy
Commander Major General James Pasquarette said at Fort Shafter, Hawaii
in comments reported by the Department of Defense News. Pasquarette
explained USARPAC deployed 100,000 troops, with 80,000 of them based in
Hawaii, Alaska and on the US West Coast, and the remaining 20,000
stationed in South Korea and Japan. “We are risk-averse — we have to be
there based on the North Korean threat, which is unpredictable,”
Pasquarette told the News in an interview published on Tuesday.

Pharma Giants Set to Profit From TTIP Talks After Massive Lobbying
Sputnik News - Lobbyists on behalf of the global pharmaceutical industry
are in Brussels on Wednesday pressing the EU over the controversial
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which critics say
will play into the hands of the pharma giants and boost their profits.
The European Union TTIP negotiating team for the pharmaceuticals,
medical devices and cosmetics sectors are meeting in Brussels to discuss
issues related to TTIP and health. They will be joined by lobbyists on
behalf of the major drug companies such as Novartis, Pfizer, Roche,
GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and AstraZeneca, whose industry collectively
spends $43 million a year on lobbying within the EU alone.

EU dropped pesticide laws due to US pressure over TTIP, documents reveal
The Guardian - EU moves to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals linked to
cancer and male infertility were shelved following pressure from US
trade officials over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP) free trade deal, newly released documents show. Draft EU criteria
could have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine disrupting
chemicals (EDCs). But these were dumped amid fears of a trade backlash
stoked by an aggressive US lobby push, access to information documents
obtained by Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Europe show.

Fukushima leak 'could cause hydrogen explosion' at nuclear plant
The Telegraph - If the concentration level is high, a spark caused by
static electricity could cause a container to explode' - Nuclear
Regulation Authority official | 25 May 2015 | Leaking containers at
Japan's embattled Fukushima nuclear power plant are at risk of possible
hydrogen explosions, experts have claimed. Almost 10 percent of recently
inspected containers holding contaminated water at the nuclear plant in
northeast Japan were found to be leaking radioactive water. The
leakages, discovered during inspections by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco),
the operators of the plant, were thought to be caused by a build-up of
hydrogen and other gases due to radiation contamination.

Japan to Join Huge US-Australian Pacific War Games As China Tensions
Mount
Sputnik News - The US continues to push its allies to take a larger role
in patrolling the waters of the Pacific. To that end, the United States
and Australia have brought Japan into its regular war games, a move
signaling a renewed front against a perceived Chinese threat… In recent
months, Washington has conducted military exercises with several nations
who also lay claim to the South China Sea, including Indonesia and the
Philippines. The US also announced earlier this month that it would
begin patrols of the Spratly Islands, a move which has been heavily
criticized by Beijing.

A Color Revolution for Macedonia — Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts - [...] According to Assistant Secretary of State
Victoria Nuland, Washington spent $5 billion in Ukraine grooming
politicians and creating NGOs as Washington’s Fifth Columns. When
Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich refused to align Ukraine with
Washington’s interests, Washington unleashed its Fifth Columns, and
Yanukovich’s government was overthrown with violence. Despite
Washington’s talk about democracy, the fact that Yanukovich’s government
was democratically elected and a new election was only a few months away
did not stop Washington from overthrowing Yanukovich. Now the same fate
seems in store for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, and Macedonia.

Nuclear weapons tests: Ministry of Defence admits it irradiated
civilians in the Cold War
Mirror Online - The Ministry of Defence has admitted ­thousands of
civilian staff were irradiated in nuclear weapons tests during the Cold
War. But is still denies that veterans of the nuclear tests, which began
in 1952 when Britain exploded its first device, were harmed. A newly
uncovered government study details the death and cancer rates of 174,541
people who were exposed to radiation at nuclear facilities. Of those,
64,909 were employed by the MoD in non-military roles such as
maintaining nuclear submarines and weapons… The study of civilians shows
higher doses increased the risk of thyroid, lung and rectal cancers,
leukaemia and heart disease. Yet while test veterans suffer the same
cancers and have fathered children with 10 times the normal rate of
birth defects, the Government spent millions fighting negligence claims.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Texas SWAT Throws Grenade into 81-Year-Old Innocent Man’s Home
Sputnik News - An 81-year-old Texas man filed a lawsuit claiming
the local law enforcement SWAT team stormed his home, threw him
to the ground and broke his hip, then left him injured and
unable to call for help. The suit accuses officers of using
"excessive, inappropriate and improper use of force" while
serving a search warrant on Herman Crisp's home in Georgetown,
about 40 miles north of Austin. Crisp was sitting on his porch
in late September when, according to the suit, the Williamson
County SWAT team – which was looking for the man's nephew –
tossed a flash grenade at the octogenarian. Crisp was sitting on
his porch in late September when, according to the suit, the
Williamson County SWAT team – which was looking for the man's
nephew – tossed a flash grenade at the octogenarian.

Feds Demand Cleveland Police Stop Bashing People in the Head
With Guns
Sputnik News - After five months of negotiations between the
city of Cleveland and the US Justice Department, both sides have
come to at least one key agreement: the practice of
pistol-whipping, evidently commonly deployed by the city’s
police department, should probably just stop.... As part of the
new settlement, released on Tuesday, the department "will
expressly provide that using a firearm as an impact weapon is
never an authorized tactic."

Judge Who Blocked Release of Osama bin Laden Death Photos Now
Blocks Release of Senate Torture Report
AllGov - The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the release of the
Senate Intelligence Committee’s full report on the CIA
interrogation program. The executive summary of the report was
previously made public, albeit with numerous redactions. But
U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg rejected the ACLU’s
request, ruling the report remains a congressional record and
thus isn’t subject to the FOIA. When Congress created FOIA in
1966, it made sure to exempt the legislative branch from its
provisions. Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack
Obama, appears to be the go-to judge if you don’t want something
released to the public.

US appeals court rules against Obama's plan to shield 5 million
from deportation
The Guardian - Federal court refuses to lift temporary hold on
president’s plan to shield 5 million undocumented immigrants,
which was imposed by a Texas judge in February. The White House
accused a federal appeals court of “misinterpreting the facts
and the law” on Tuesday after it dealt a potentially devastating
blow to Barack Obama’s hopes of granting legal status to
millions of undocumented immigrants before he leaves office.
Lawyers for the department of justice had sought an immediate
stay against an earlier decision by a lower court in Texas that
froze the programme after it was challenged by a number of
Republican-controlled states. But Tuesday’s ruling by the US
fifth circuit rejected the request for a stay, forcing the
programme to remain mothballed while the administration
continues the lengthy process of legal appeals.

Rand Paul: ‘Disingenuous’ Obama Can Stop NSA Spying Any Time He
Wants
Steve Watson - resh from his marathon filibuster of the proposed
extension to the government snooping enabling section of the
Patriot Act, Senator Rand Paul slammed the President this
morning, accusing Obama of being deceitful over the issue.
Appearing on CBS, Paul noted “Here’s the thing about the
president: He’s disingenuous about this,” the Kentucky
Republican said on ‘This Morning.’ “The president started this
program through executive order — he could end it anytime.”

Government Aircraft Fly Secret Surveillance Missions Over
Several US Cities
Sputnik News - The US government has already faced heated
criticism over its use of drones in the Middle East. But the
airspace above Afghanistan and Yemen isn’t the only place
inhabited by US surveillance aircraft. A new report suggests
that the Department of Justice has dozens of airplanes and
helicopters covertly patrolling the skies of American cities… A
new investigation by civil liberties activists has uncovered
that the Justice Department maintains a fleet of 100 small
aircraft and helicopters in major cities across the United
States.

DHS/Police are going into bars with Breathalyzers!
MassPrivateI - Sacramento, California cops rolled out a new
program on Memorial day to allegedly combat drunk drivers. If
you were at a bar this weekend, cops were approaching patrons
and asking them to blow into breathalyzers. DUI roadblocks are
apparently not invasive enough, now police are going to bars
'asking' wink, wink patrons to blow into breathalyzers! How long
before police nationwide will go into bars and force people to
blow into breathalyzers and check for possible public
inebriation or use 'Drug Breathalyzers' on innocent people?
California's ‘Drug Breathalyzer’ bill is set to do just that.

Popular Radio Host and Guest Censored by Radio Station Over
Vaccines
Activist Post - Gary Null has been a popular, longtime radio
host with the longest running health talk show which airs on
Progressive Radio Network. He has authored and directed dozens
upon dozens of books and documentaries. A few weeks ago, he was
asked as an honored guest on Bonnie Faulkner's show, Guns and
Butter which talks about the politics of economics and airs on
Pacifica KPFA public radio stations. In the spirit of truth,
Bonnie wanted listeners to hear the other side of the vaccine
talk, not the "case closed" version. What you're not being told
about vaccines. And specifically SB277, the California bill to
mandate vaccines for virtually all Californian school children.
When it came time to air, however, they were told they weren't
allowed - or rather, they were outright censored and the show
was cut - the first time for Guns and Butter in over 11 years.

Alabama Senate Approves Bill to Abolish Marriage Licensing
The 10th Amendment Center - This week, the Alabama state Senate
passed a bill that would end the practice of licensing marriages
in the state, effectively nullifying both major sides of the
contentious national debate over government-sanctioned marriage.
Introduced by Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Bay Minette), Senate Bill
377 (SB377) would end state issued marriage licenses, while
providing marriage contracts as an alternative. It passed
through the Alabama state Senate by a 22-3 margin on May 19....
The bill would replace all references to marriages “licenses” in
state law with “contracts.” The legislation would not invalidate
any marriage licenses issued prior to the bill being passed.

Veteran News

Active Duty US Airman Identified as Shooter in Grand Forks
Wal-Mart
Duluth Tribune - Marcell Travon Willis, originally from
Springfield, Tenn., fatally shot one Wal-Mart employee and
injured another before turning the gun on himself early Tuesday.
The motive remains unknown, said Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik
Zimmel, adding police believe the victims were strangers to
Willis. As of Tuesday afternoon, there was no indication Willis
was suffering from a mental illness, Zimmel said. He did not
know whether Willis was under the influence of alcohol or drugs
at the time of the shooting.

VIDEO: U.S. Navy Vet: Veterans Affairs Gun Locks ‘Another Obama
Back Door Gun Control Measure’
Breitbart - According to an earlier NPR report noting veteran
suicide statistics, “The VA is trying to help with a program
that offers gun locks to veterans for free. The thinking is that
if they lock their guns up they might not reach for them in the
spur of the moment.” But many critics argue this is a government
form used to get veterans to identify if they own a firearm,
creating a federal registry. Anderson supplied three letters he
received in a packet from the VA. One is titled “Veterans Crisis
Line Public Fact Sheet” detailing the VA help line. Another
document is a gun safety pamphlet, providing gun safety facts
and statistics. The third document is a lock order form to be
returned to the VA once it is completed with paid postage
supplied by the VA. It requires the veteran’s name, address and
exact number of gunlocks needed.

Economy & Business

IRS system mined for over 100,000 taxpayer records by fraudsters
Ars Technica - In an official statement issued today, the IRS
announced that it has shut down an online service to obtain tax
records after determining that "unusual activity had taken place
on the application, which indicates that unauthorized third
parties had access to some accounts on the transcript
application." An initial review of that activity revealed
"access was gained to more than 100,000 accounts through the Get
Transcript application," according to the IRS statement. After
the IRS disclosed more information, it became clear the user
data was not obtained because of a direct hack of government
systems. Rather, weak authentication used by the IRS to protect
access to taxpayer data is likely at fault. The attackers were
able to acquire taxpayer records using stolen personal
identifying information, possibly pulled from online financial
fraud marketplaces.

Is The 505 Trillion Dollar Interest Rate Derivatives Bubble In
Imminent Jeopardy?
The Economic Collapse - According to the Bank for International
Settlements, the notional value of all interest rate derivatives
contracts outstanding around the globe is a staggering 505
trillion dollars. Considering the fact that the U.S. national
debt is only 18 trillion dollars, that is an amount of money
that is almost incomprehensible. When this derivatives bubble
finally bursts, there won’t be enough money in the entire world
to bail everyone out. The key to making sure that all of these
interest rate bets do not start going bad is for interest rates
to remain stable… The key to making sure that all of these
interest rate bets do not start going bad is for interest rates
to remain stable. That is why what is going on in Greece right
now is so important.

Holder Deadline for Prosecuting Wall Street Executives for
Financial Crisis Passes without a Single Charge
AllGov - Holder’s shop had six years to build cases against key
people at institutions like Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase. It’s
not known if prosecutors ever did that. What is known is that
the only charges actually filed by DOJ lawyers have been against
smaller fish, namely those working at small and medium sized
banks, according the Center for Public Integrity (CPI). The
investigative news site reviewed enforcement actions and civil
lawsuits filed by the Justice Department, Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and found “these agencies have been far more likely to
charge or sue individuals who work at small and medium sized
banks, and foreign financial firms, than those that work at
domestic banking giants such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. or
Citigroup.”

Energy & Environment

Storms kill 17 in Texas, Oklahoma; Houston flooded
(Reuters) - Torrential rains have killed at least 17 people in
Texas and Oklahoma, including four in Houston where floods
turned streets into rivers and led to about 1,000 calls for help
in the fourth-most populous U.S. city, officials said on
Tuesday. The death toll is set to rise with numerous people
still missing in Texas after the storms slammed the states
during the Memorial Day weekend, causing record floods that
destroyed hundreds of homes, swept away bridges, and even
unearthed a coffin from a Houston cemetery. It washed ashore on
the banks of a bayou. * Related:
Texas flash floods cause death and destruction - in pictures

Science & Technology

Sputnik News - The National Security Agency has tested user
verification technology to recognize your finger-swiping
"handwriting" on touch screens, in an effort to move past the
age of passwords. But, perhaps predictably, the US spy body is
keeping mum on how it might use the new tech. The feature —
called "Mandrake" by its creators at Lockheed Martin —
identifies the unique speed and form of a user's finger strokes
across their device's touchscreen, reports NextGov. This field
of development sometimes called "dynamic signature" biometrics,
looks beyond the surface of the signature to the movements of
the hand that makes it.

Health

A Truthful Vaccine Consent Form – That No Mom Could Ever Sign
Natural Blaze - The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the
quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates,
directs or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and
responsibility which may not be delegated to another with
impunity." Those are the closing words of the first tenet of the
Nuremberg Code - informed consent – and make no mistake about it
- from the most personal of parental perspectives, vaccination’s
a macabre experiment, every time: no parent can be certain that
a vaccine won’t permanently disable her child.(2) Egregiously,
the administering doctor or nurse - or CVS pharmacist - in no
way meaningfully fulfills his obligation by providing incomplete
information, printed on a form he may or may not even offer, all
the while touting the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

500 Reasons Turmeric May Be The World's Most Important Herb
Green Med Info - While no food or herb is right for everyone,
and everything has the potential for unintended, adverse side
effects, turmeric is truly unique in its exceptionally high
margin of safety vis-à-vis the drugs it has been compared with,
e.g. hydrocortisone, ibuprofen, chemotherapy agents.
Furthermore, nothing within the modern-day pharmaceutical
armamentarium comes even remotely close to turmeric's 6,000 year
track record of safe use in Ayurvedic medicine.

12 Ways Thyme Oil Can Heal, Help You Sleep, And Even Chase Away
Bugs
Off the Grid News - Thyme essential oil, made from the herb
Thymus vulgaris, has been traditionally used in the
Mediterranean region for thousands of years as a common remedy
for a number of ailments.... Below are some ways you can get the
most out of this highly potent essential oil.

Tuesday
- May 26, 2015 - Today in History:

1791 - The French Assembly forced King Louis XVI to hand over the crown
and state assets.
1835 - A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that
Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.
1836 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopted what has been called
the Gag Rule.
1864 - The Territory of Montana was organized.
1865 - Arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of
Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.
1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted, by one vote, of all
charges in his impeachment trial.
1940 - The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began
during World War II.
1946 - A patent was filed in the United States for an H-bomb.
1948 - The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 557 which permanently
established the Civil Air Patrol as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air
Force.
1958 - Union Square, San Francisco became a state historical landmark.
1961 - A U.S. Air Force bomber flew across the Atlantic in a record time
of just over three hours.
1969 - The Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful
eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1972 - The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) was signed by the
U.S. and USSR. The short-term agreement put a freeze on the testing and
deployment of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles
for a 5-year period.
1994 - U.S. President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and
announced that his administration would no longer link China's trade
status with its human rights record.
2004 - Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for
helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
2009 - President Barack Obama nominated federal appeals judge Sonia
Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court.
2011 - Congress passed a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers
contained in the Patriot Act to search records and conduct roving
wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists.
2011 - Ratko Mladic, the brutal Bosnian Serb general suspected of
leading the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, was arrested after a
16-year manhunt.

World News

Iraq Hopes for Russia to Supply Arms, Ammunition to Fight Against ISIL
Sputnik News - Baghdad is hoping for Moscow’s aid in delivering
ammunition in order to fight against the Islamic State, Iraqi Interior
Minister Mohammed Ghabban said Tuesday. Iraq is in need of training of
both its police and military in the fight against ISIL, Ghabban said in
an interview with RT television. “I think we can cooperate in a number
of areas and Russia can seriously help us,” he added… The assistance
Iraq currently receives from the United States is not enough to win over
ISIL, Iraqi interior minister noted.

Fast-track authority stalls the Trans-Pacific Partnership and in turn a
Canada-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement
The Council of Canadians - It appears that the conclusion of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" deal has been stalled over
the issue of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as fast-track
authority, in the United States. That in turn could also be delaying
progress on the proposed Canada-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (CJEPA)....
The TPP ministerial that was supposed to take place starting tomorrow
(May 26) in Guam has been cancelled because the Trade Promotion
Authority, which would give the U.S. president the ability to conclude
trade agreements without facing amendments by the U.S. Congress, has not
been secured. Chile's deputy trade minister says that "most of the
countries" at the TPP negotiating table objected to ministerial-level
discussions without the assurance of fast-track legislation in the
United States. As of yesterday (May 24) no new date had been set for the
next Trans Pacific Partnership ministerial.

Greece Urges Creditors to Compromise as IMF Payment Nears
Bloomberg - Greece called on the country’s creditors to compromise on
demands to break an impasse over the release of funds for its
cash-strapped economy as a deadline neared for payments due next month
to the International Monetary Fund. A day after Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras said Greece can’t absorb any more austerity measures, Finance
Minister Yanis Varoufakis said his government has met the euro area and
IMF three-quarters of the way so it’s up to creditors to cover the
remainder. Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis, who has no economic
decision-making powers, went so far Sunday as to say Greece couldn’t and
wouldn’t pay the IMF in June without a deal. * Related:
'Breaking point': Greek hospitals out of painkillers, scissors and
sheets due to austerity

Sri Lanka’s New President Puts Immediate Ban on Glyphosate Herbicides
Sustainable Pulse - Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Maithripala
Sirisena announced Friday that the import of the World’s most used
herbicide glyphosate will be banned with immediate effect. The release
of already imported stocks has also been stopped. Sirisena, a farmer and
ex Health Minister, stated that glyphosate is responsible for the
increasing number of chronic kidney disease (CKDu) patients in Sri Lanka
and added that the move would protect the Sri Lankan farming community.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

ISIS Planning US Nuclear Attack In Next 12 Months says report
Zero Hedge - Three weeks after the first supposed attack by
Islamic State supporters in the US, in which two ISIS "soldiers"
wounded a security guard before they were killed in Garland,
Texas, the time has come to raise the fear stakes. In an article
posted in the terrorist group's English-language online magazine
Dabiq (which as can be see below seems to have gotten its design
cues straight from Madison Avenue and is just missing glossy
pages filled with 'scratch and sniff' perfume ads ) ISIS claimed
that it has enough money to buy a nuclear weapon from Pakistan
and "carry out an attack inside the United States next year."…
Curiously, the author of the piece is John Cantlie, a British
photojournalist who was abducted by ISIS in 2012 and has been
held hostage by the organization ever since…

Senior NATO Official: “We’ll Probably be at War This Summer”
Paul Joseph Watson - A senior NATO official told former NSA
intelligence analyst John Schindler that the world would
“probably be at war” sometime this summer. “We’ll probably be at
war this summer, if we’re lucky it won’t be nuclear,” the
official told Schindler last week. Although the tweet was
retweeted over 400 times, the comment garnered no mainstream
media attention whatsoever, which is odd given that Schindler is
a former U.S. Naval War College lecturer and is known to have
many high level military contacts. Although not specified, the
reference was almost certainly in relation to growing tensions
between the United States and Russia. Although not specified,
the reference was almost certainly in relation to growing
tensions between the United States and Russia.

Secret Pentagon Report Reveals US "Created" ISIS As A "Tool" To
Overthrow Syria's President Assad
Blacklisted News - …while speculation was rife that just like
the CIA-funded al Qaeda had been used as a facade by the US to
achieve its own geopolitical and national interests over the
past two decades, so ISIS was nothing more than al Qaeda 2.0,
there was no actual evidence of just this. That may all have
changed now when a declassified secret US government document
obtained by the public interest law firm, Judicial Watch, shows
that Western governments deliberately allied with al-Qaeda and
other Islamist extremist groups to topple Syrian dictator Bashir
al-Assad. According to investigative reporter Nafeez Ahmed in
Medium, the “leaked document reveals that in coordination with
the Gulf states and Turkey, the West intentionally sponsored
violent Islamist groups to destabilize Assad, despite
anticipating that doing so could lead to the emergence of an
‘Islamic State’ in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

McConnell Strategy Falters and Patriot Act Powers Likely to
Expire
The New American - The dogged insistence of Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on renewing the expiring portions
of the PATRIOT Act intact has created a logjam in the Senate
that will likely lead to those provisions expiring at midnight
on May 31. McConnell introduced a bill on April 21 (S. 1035) “to
extend authority relating to roving surveillance, access to
business records, and individual terrorists as agents of foreign
powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
and for other purposes.”… Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the
Senate’s strongest opponent to the government surveillance
powers authorized under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, vowed
immediately to prevent an extension of those powers…True to his
word, Paul held the Senate floor for 10 and a half hours on May
20 to hold up McConnell’s bill… With Paul’s filibuster
contributing to the delay in acting on McConnell’s temporary
extension bill, it is very likely that the powers granting the
NSA the authority to collect bulk phone surveillance records
will no longer exist on June first.

West Virginia Bill to Keep Guard Troops Out of Unconstitutional
Foreign Wars Killed by Pentagon Threats
Activist Post - Del. Pat McGeehan (R-Hancock, 1) sponsored the
Defend the Guard Act (House Bill 2168), McGeehan served as a
former Air Force intelligence officer and did tours in
Afghanistan and the Middle East. Ten other delegates
co-sponsored this bipartisan legislation. The bill would have
prohibited West Virginia Guard units from deploying into active
duty combat without an official Declaration of War from the US
Congress, or as provided for under the three enumerated powers
listed in the “militia clause” of the Constitution.... In spite
of the initial momentum, the bill died shortly after Washington
D.C. got wind of it. Its potential ramifications frightened the
power structure. McGeehan said certain phone calls were made
that brought HB2168’s progress to a screeching halt.

Five New York flights searched for bombs in 'chemical weapons'
terror scare: Fighter jets scrambled after anonymous threats to
flights into JFK
Daily Mail - Airline authorities have received anonymous threats
warning about the risk of either 'chemical weapons' or bombs
onboard at least five New York bound flights. Three warnings
have been received about 'chemical weapons' including an Air
France flight which was forced to make an emergency landing at
JFK at 10:17 a.m. on Monday. Further warnings about 'chemical
weapons' were phoned in relating to an American Airways flight
landing from Birmingham, England, and a Delta flight coming into
Newark. In addition bomb threats have been received in relation
to a Saudi Airlines flight that landed safely at Kennedy airport
from Jeddah and a cargo plane bound for Newark. The threat are
not considered to be credible, but authorities are taking no
chances and are following security protocols.

Veteran News

Senate Takes First Step to Allow Vets to Use Medical Marijuana
AllGov - The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to
allow Veterans Administration doctors to recommend marijuana as
a therapy for their patients in states that allow medical use of
the drug. The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines
(R-Montana) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), was attached to a
Defense Department spending bill that is seen as one that almost
certainly will be passed by the full Senate. “Veterans in
medical marijuana states should be treated the same as any other
resident, and should be able to discuss marijuana with their
doctor and use it if it’s medically necessary,” Drug Policy
Alliance policy manager Michael Collins said in a press release.
“They have served this country valiantly, so the least we can do
is allow them to have full and open discussions with their
doctors.”

Economy & Business

Economist: Government Preparing to Seize 401(k) Pensions
Paul Joseph Watson - Economist Martin Armstrong warns that a
Supreme Court ruling last week has set the stage for the federal
government to begin seizing private pension funds. According to
Armstrong, the outcome of Tibble v. Edison, which found that
employers have a duty to protect their workers’ 401(k) plans
from mutual funds that perform poorly, will grease the skids for
the feds to seize private funds and prosecute companies who
manage mutual funds badly. “Between the court ruling and the
Obama administration’s push for stronger fiduciary rules,” the
developments send a, “strong message that government can much
easier seize the pension fund management industry of course to
“protect the consumer,” writes Armstrong, warning that the
ruling, “sets the stage to JUSTIFY government seizure of private
pension funds to protect pensioners,” when the economy gets
“messy”.

Science & Technology

Researchers Predicted In 1971 that Debit Cards Would Become the
Ultimate Spy Tool
Washington's Blog - In late October of 1971 a group of academics
and technologists gathered at a conference at Georgetown. They
were given the task of devising the most comprehensive (yet
invisible) surveillance program imaginable…. They imagined an
electronic funds transfer system, or EFTS—a system that looks
strikingly similar to the debit card system we all use today.
“Not only would it handle all the financial accounting and
provide the statistics crucial to a centrally planned economy,”
Paul Armer wrote in 1975 recounting the KGB-infused thought
experiment. “It was the best surveillance system we could
imagine within the constraint that it not be obtrusive.”... In
other words, if society becomes cashless, dissenters can’t hide
cash. All of their transactions would be trackable, and all of
the financial holdings would be vulnerable to seizure or attack
by the government. This would be the ultimate form of control.

Boeing Unveils Amazing, Slightly Terrifying New Electromagnetic
Pulse Weapon
Rich Smith - Boeing's "CHAMP," short for Counter-electronics
High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project. It's
essentially the old nuclear electromagnetic pulse weapon that we
used to worry so much about -- but without the nuclear part.
CHAMP carries a small generator that emits microwaves to fry
electronics with pinpoint accuracy. It targets not nations or
cities but individual buildings, blacking out their electronics
rather than blowing up physical targets (or people). What makes
CHAMP even more interesting is that, unlike a nuclear
electromagnetic pulse weapon, which fires once, blacking out
entire nation-states, CHAMP can fire multiple times, pinpointing
and blacking out only essential targets.

The Pentagon Wants Special Ops To Carry DNA Scanners
Gizmodo - The United States’ most elite soldiers have been
collecting DNA samples from suspected terrorists for years. But
because analysis normally takes three weeks, it’s been a pretty
useless chore. Now, however, U.S. Special Operations Command is
testing a machine that can do it in 90 minutes. Get ready for
advanced biometric warfare.

Health

New Study: HPV Vaccine ‘Increases Chance’ of Developing Other
HPV Strains
Natural Society - Research presented at the 2015 annual meeting
of the American Association for Cancer Research has shown that
women who were vaccinated against HPV had a higher risk of
developing non-vaccine strains of the virus. Approximately 60%
of over 600 women between the ages of 20 and 26 who had been
given the Gardasil vaccine to protect them against one of four
strains of HPV (6, 11, 16, and 18) ended up being more at risk
for developing an infection caused by another strain of the HPV
virus.

Coconut and Thyroid Connection: How It Supports Healthy Thyroid
Function
Natural Blaze - Once termed a villain fat armed to destroy,
coconut oil is now being embraced as the healthiest saturated
fat on the planet — and for good reason… Coconut oil is truly a
jam-packed therapeutic bullet that can tackle even some of the
most health destroying conditions, including thyroid problems.
It is rich in fatty acids, which support metabolism and provide
energy.

Poisonberry: The 10 Most Contaminated Fruits & Vegetables
Natural News Blogs - The group, a non-profit focused on public
health, scoured nearly 100,000 produce pesticide reports from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to determine what fruits and vegetables we eat
have the highest, and lowest, amounts of chemical residue.… If
you’re eating non-organic celery today, you may be ingesting 67
pesticides with it, according to a new report from the
Environmental Working Group. A single grape sample contained 15
pesticides. The average potato had more pesticides by weight
than any other food. Single samples of celery, cherry tomatoes,
imported snap peas and strawberries showed 13 different
pesticides apiece. When it comes to pesticides, fungicides, and
other chemicals, all crops are by no means equal.

Monday - May 25, 2015 -
Today in History:

1787 - The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George
Washington presiding.
1911 - President of Mexico, Porfolio Diaz, resigned his office.
1925 - John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in
school.
1946 - Jordan gained independence from Britain.
1953 - In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.
1961 - America was asked by U.S. President Kennedy to work toward
putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
1968 - The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion
Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.
1970 - Boeing Computer Services was founded.
1977 - An opinion piece by Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs appeared in "The
Washington Post." The article called for a national memorial to "remind
an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons" that had served in
the Vietnam War.
1979 - An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's
O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed.
1985 - Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed
more than 11,000 people.
1986 - Approximately 7 million Americans participated in "Hands Across
America."
1992 - Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's "Tonight
Show."
1997 - U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in
U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).
1999 - A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on
U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the
People's Republic of China concluded that China had "stolen design
information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons" and that
China's penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories "spans at least the
past several decades and almost certainly continues today."
2006 - In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey
Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of
Enron.
2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.
2009 - North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful
nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations
Security Council condemned the reported test.

1761 - In Philadelphia, the first life insurance policy was issued in
the U.S.
1819 - The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic
Ocean.
1868 - Near Marshfield, IN, The "Great Train Robbery" took place. The
robbery was worth $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds to the 7 Reno gang.
1872 - The Amnesty Act restored civil rights to Southerners.
1882 - The U.S. formally recognized Korea.
1939 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance
between Germany and Italy known as the "Pact of Steel."
1947 - The Truman Doctrine was enacted by the U.S. Congress to
appropriate military and economic aid Turkey and Greece.
1955 - A dance to be headlined by Fats Domino was canceled by police in
Bridgeport, Connecticut because "rock and roll dances might be
featured."
1967 - "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" premiered on PBS.
1972 - U.S. President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit
Russia. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
1997 - Kelly Flinn, the U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot
certified for combat, accepted a general discharge. She thereby avoided
court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order.
1998 - New information came to light about the June 1996 bombing that
killed 19 American airmen. The information indicated that Saudi citizens
had been responsible and not Iranians as once believed.
1998 - A federal judge said that Secret Service agents could be
compelled to testify before a grand jury in Monica Lewinsky
investigation concerning U.S. President Clinton.
2002 - Chandra Levy's remains were found in Washington, DC's Rock Creek
Park. She was last seen on April 30, 2001. California Congressman Gary
Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.
2002 - In Birmingham, AL, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby
Frank Cherry of murder in the 1963 church bombing that killed four
girls.

World News

Pentagon sending 2,000 anti-tank weapons to Iraq
The Hill - The Pentagon announced on Thursday it is sending 2,000
anti-tank weapons to Iraq, following the rout of U.S.-backed forces in
Ramadi by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The weapons will
arrive as early as next week, said Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve
Warren. He said the U.S. is also expediting the delivery of other
equipment, including ammunition and other equipment to counter ISIS's
increasing reliance on vehicle-borne bombs. Within the last 30 days, the
U.S. also helped to deliver coalition donations of 22 million rounds of
small arms ammunition and 12,000 mortar rounds to the Iraqi army, Warren
said.

NATO Sending Warships to EU Eastern Partnership Summit
Sputnik News - The ships, arriving for a port visit on Friday on the
second day of the two day Summit, include the missile cruiser USS
Vicksburg, capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, Turkish frigate
TCG Goksu, and the Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp. The press release from the
US Embassy in Riga announcing the visit says the stopover is aimed at
"promoting peace and stability in the Baltic region," adding that the
ships will make their presence known "as part of an ongoing effort by
NATO to strengthen ties with its allies and regional partners."

George Soros, NATO, US Color Revolution Machine Behind Unrest in
Macedonia
Brandon Turbeville - With tensions heating up between the United States
and Russia over a number of issues - Ukraine, BRICS, sanctions, and NATO
encirclement to name a few - the West continues its move in toward
Russia's borders. The latest target in the Anglo-American
destabilization campaign has now come forward - Macedonia. In the
attempt to destroy the elected government of Macedonia, George Soros,
NATO, and the Western Color Revolution apparatus have all come together
to ensure that the will of the Macedonian people is denied as is the
will of populations in all Western-style democracies. As informed
observers might well suspect, any color revolution taking place in
Eastern Europe will involve the heavy hand of George Soros.* Related:
What In The World Is Happening In Macedonia?

ISIL Captures Last Syria-Controlled Border Crossing With Iraq
Sputnik News - "IS seized control of the Al-Tanaf border crossing on the
Syrian-Iraqi border…after regime forces withdrew, leaving the Syrian
regime with no control over its border with Iraq," the Syrian
Observatory for Human rights said, reports the AFP. Security forces from
both Iraq and Syria have withdrawn from the crossing — known as al-Waleed
in Iraq and al-Tanf in Syria — in Homs province. The only border between
the two countries not in control of the Islamic State is one in Syria’s
northeast, which is held by the Kurdish militia, YPG.

The slaughter of Palmyra's citizens begins: First images emerge from
Syrian city over-run by ISIS
Daily Mail - Shocking images emerged today showing decapitated bodies
strewn across blood-filled streets in Palmyra – victims of the Islamic
State's unrelenting savagery as they stormed the ancient city. The
terror group have now seized full control of the historic settlement,
putting the world heritage site and its priceless 2,000-year-old
artifacts at risk of destruction. The jihadis have also captured the
military air base, intelligence headquarters and its notorious prison,
where hundreds of inmates have reportedly been liberated.

China offers to build 1st high-speed rail link to Russia
RT - Jilin Province in China has offered to build a railway to
Vladivostok for Russia’s Far East Region of Primorsky Krai. It would be
the first cross-border high-speed rail link between the two countries
and Russia’s major Pacific port.... Beijing has already agreed to invest
about $6 billion in the construction of Russia’s first high-speed
railroad between Moscow and Kazan which is to be extended to China. The
railway will become part of the grand Silk Road project, a Chinese
economic corridor with Russia and Mongolia.

Israel Punishes the Poor: "No Vaccines, No Child Support"
Natural Blaze - Times of Israel reported on a decision that citizens had
no say in whatsoever: When United Torah Judaism inked its coalition
agreement with Likud on April 29, party members triumphantly hailed the
reversal of a slew of legislative measures implemented by arch-nemesis
Yair Lapid, including an increase in monthly child allowances — but it
came with one caveat. Under the terms of the coalition deal, which
appointed party member Yaakov Litzman deputy health minister, “the
National Insurance law will be amended, such that child allowances will
not be given in cases where a parent refuses to vaccinate their child.”

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Leftist Media Pushing White-On-White Crime Narrative in Waco
Truth Revolt - The leftist media is busy injecting the narrative
of white-on-white crime into the biker gang shooting that left
nine people dead in Waco, Texas Sunday. The common thread of
complaint centers on how blacks are portrayed in news coverage
versus whites when it comes to violent crime. Also among the
complaints are how the police reacted at the scene, most reports
saying they were calm or “minimally attentive,” juxtaposed with
the how police responded during the Ferguson and Baltimore
riots. Here is a small example of the headlines coming from the
top media on the left... * Related:
Police arrest 192 suspects after mass brawl that left nine dead

‘Fast Track Authority’ Bill Advances Through Senate
Truth in Media - As Memorial Day weekend draws near, U.S.
politicians are negotiating a number of important issues that
will affect all Americans. The first of these is the extension
of section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which has been used to
justify mass surveillance programs by the National Security
Agency.... The other pressing matter that is being considered is
the reauthorization of trade promotion authority (TPA), or “fast
track” authority. On Thursday, supporters of fast track gained
the support of enough senators to advance the bill to the next
stage. In a procedural vote, 62 senators voted in favor of the
bill (49 Republicans, 13 Democrats), with 38 voting against (31
Democrats, 5 Republicans, 2 Independents). USA Today reported
that, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to
finish work on the bill before the Senate adjourns for the
Memorial Day recess. The House is expected to take up TPA in
June.” The final Senate vote could happen on Friday afternoon.

CIA torture report won’t be released to public, judge rules
RT - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Senate’s nearly
7,000-page report on the CIA’s torture practices during
interrogations in the wake of 9/11 will not be made public,
marking a setback for civil liberties advocates.... Washington,
DC US District Judge James E. Boasberg, in his 26-page decision,
said the complete report compiled by the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence, and the related “Panetta review,” are exempt
from the dictates of the Freedom Information Act. He said the
Senate Committee report remains under congressional control and
Congress made sure to exempt itself from FOIA requests.

Congress Moves to Eliminate Labels Showing Consumers Where Meat
Comes from Following WTO Ruling
Michael Krieger - A House committee has voted to get rid of
labels on packages of meat that say where the animals were born,
raised and slaughtered. The House Agriculture Committee voted
38-6 to repeal a “country-of-origin” labeling law for beef, pork
and poultry Wednesday — just two days after the World Trade
Organization ruled against parts of the law.... Debbie Barker of
the Center for Food Safety said the WTO’s ruling, and the
House’s action, show no regard for shoppers who want to know
where their meat comes from. “It’s stunning that some members of
Congress are so quick to respond to a closed-door, international
trade body with no apparent regard for the wishes of American
consumers,” Barker said.

Soros: US on the Brink of World War III with China
Sputnik News - Military spending is on the rise in China, where
there is an effort to transition to a domestic-demand-led
economy from exports, Soros said at the Bretton Woods conference
at the World Bank. If that move falters, he said, there is a
"likelihood" that China’s leaders would promote an external
conflict – possibly with a US ally – to keep the country
together and hold on to power. "If there is conflict between
China and a military ally of the United States, like Japan, then
it is not an exaggeration to say that we are on the threshold of
a third world war," Soros was quoted as saying by MarketWatch.

VIDEO: Sen. Sessions: 10 Myth-Busters on Obama's Trade Effort
Breitbart - Wednesday, Sessions took on arguments for the trade
deal with a series of what he office says are “myths” versus
“truths” about the trade deal under consideration in Congress.
In the myth buster account, Sessions’ office says not only will
fast-track erode congressional power over the trade process but
the trade agreements implemented under that authority will trump
U.S. law.

Six Baltimore police officers indicted in death of Freddie Gray
Washington Post - The officers, each of whom faces multiple
counts, now also face a charge of reckless endangerment,
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said at a press
conference Thursday. Charges of false imprisonment against three
of the officers are no longer part of the case.... Goodson faces
the most serious charges — second-degree depraved heart murder,
involuntary manslaughter and assault, among other counts.
Porter, Rice and White each face involuntary manslaughter and
other charges. Nero and Miller face charges that include
second-degree assault, misdemeanors. The officers are expected
to arraigned on July 2 in Circuit Court, which could mean making
their first public appearances before a judge.

FOI Commission: State Police Must Turn Over Lanzas’ Papers –
Hartford Courant
Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information - State police
must make available to the public personal documents seized from
Adam Lanza's house during the course of the investigation into
the 2012 killings of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook
Elementary School, the state's Freedom of Information Commission
unanimously ruled Wednesday. The ruling came as a result of a
Freedom of Information Act request from The Courant seeking
copies of documents mentioned in the state police's report into
the massacre but never made available to the public.

Homeland Security is paying police to set up DUI checkpoints
MassPrivateI - The NHTSA used FORCIBLY collected oral fluid or
blood samples from 11,100 drivers at 60 locations across the
country to make the determination that drunk driving is
decreasing. If drunk driving is down, why is there an increase
in illegal no-refusal blood draw checkpoints across the country?
Why would DHS pay police departments to set up DUI checkpoints?
It's all about conditioning the public to accept illegal 4th.
Amendment intrusions by DHS. The NHTSA/DHS are giving out
MILLIONS in grant money, which is essentially paying police
departments to set up checkpoints.

Veteran News

Memorial Day Is A Hoax — Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts - Memorial Day commemorates soldiers killed
in war. We are told that the war dead died for us and our
freedom. US Marine General Smedley Butler challenged this view.
He said that our soldiers died for the profits of the bankers,
Wall Street, Standard Oil, and the United Fruit Company. Here is
an excerpt from a speech that he gave in 1933...

Economy & Business

It Is Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off All Of Our Debt
Economic Collapse - Did you know that if you took every single
penny away from everyone in the United States that it still
would not be enough to pay off the national debt? Today, the
debt of the federal government exceeds $145,000 per household,
and it is getting worse with each passing year. Many believe
that if we paid it off a little bit at a time that we could
eventually pay it all off, but as you will see below that isn’t
going to work either. It has been projected that “mandatory”
federal spending on programs such as Social Security, Medicaid
and Medicare plus interest on the national debt will exceed
total federal revenue by the year 2025.

Science & Technology

Report: NSA hijacked app stores to hack phones
The Hill - The National Security Agency planned to infiltrate
the Google and Samsung app stores to plant spying software on
smartphones, according to new documents published from files
leaked by Edward Snowden. The Intercept and CBC News jointly
published the documents Thursday, which outline the snooping
efforts designed by the U.S. and its “Five Eyes” alliance:
Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. The
intelligence agencies came up with the strategy as a potential
way to hack smartphones.

More People Reporting Wi-Fi Is Making Them Sick
Marco Torres - Wi-Fi signals are, unlike TV and radio signals,
strong enough to penetrate concrete walls. Many health experts
consider Wi-Fi radiation to be extremely dangerous to long-term
health. Based on the existing science, many public health
experts believe it is possible we will face an epidemic of
cancers in the future resulting from uncontrolled use of cell
phones and increased population exposure to Wi-Fi and other
wireless devices. Now more people than ever are reporting
unexplained symptoms causes by Wi-Fi.

General Motors says it owns your car’s software
Autoblog - Buy a General Motors vehicle lately? Check the fine
print. The company says you may not own some parts of a vehicle
that actually make it run. In comments sure to rankle customers,
a GM attorney said Tuesday the company believes the software
that controls every vehicle function belongs to them. Even after
customers pay tens of thousands of dollars for a car, the
company says users are merely signing a licensing agreement to
use it over its lifetime. "It is our position the software in
the vehicle is licensed by the owner of the vehicle," attorney
Harry Lightsey said.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

How to Grow You Own Salad Sprouts
Health Impact News - After decades of poor results through the
industrialized food system, it seems we are hearing about a
homegrown revolution more and more. Indeed, growing one’s own
food is a certain means of knowing exactly what is going into
the many plants and animal products that go on the table. But
there are many challenges that don’t make this simple task as
easy as it may seem. Land, soil health, and seasonality all
present challenges to the ideal of sowing the seeds of our
supper with our own two hands. Thankfully there is a way to grow
enzyme-rich raw vegetables right in the home kitchen without the
need for soil or land. Some seeds, water, and simple equipment
are all that is necessary.

Health

Almost No Medical Condition Qualifies for Medical Vaccine
Exemption
Health Impact News - If you or your child are sick at the time
of vaccination with a fever or on antibiotics, there is no
medical vaccine exemption for you. If you are a pregnant health
care worker and do not want to get a flu shot while you are
pregnant because you do not want to risk a miscarriage, no
medical vaccine exemption for you. If your child was injured or
died after vaccination and you want to protect your other
children from vaccine injury, no medical vaccine exemption for
your children. If your baby was born prematurely and is low
weight and struggling to survive, no medical vaccine exemption
for your infant. For all practical purposes, the Centers for
Disease Control and medical trade organizations now direct
pediatricians and other vaccinators to deny the medical vaccine
exemption to 99.99 percent of Americans.

Vaccines suppress your brain! Vaccine-Induced Brain Damage
Syndrome (VIBDS) mirrors cognitive impairment caused by
chemotherapy (Chemo Brain)
(NaturalNews) Vaccine-Induced Brain Damage Syndrome (VIBDS) is
the phenomenon of impaired cognitive function caused by the
brain-damaging toxic additives found in vaccines. It mirrors the
well-documented cognitive impairment caused by chemotherapy,
known across the medical establishment as Post-Chemotherapy
Cognitive Impairment (PCCI).... What exactly causes brain damage
from vaccines? The vaccine ingredients, of course: aluminum,
mercury, formaldehyde, MSG, antibiotic drugs, etc. Each one of
these is openly admitted by the CDC to still be used in
vaccines, and each one is also exhaustively documented as a
neurotoxin.

Benefits You Can Receive From Eating These 7 Fruit Seeds
Natural News Blogs - Fruits are some of the healthiest foods to
eat since they provide antioxidants, fiber, enzymes, vitamins,
minerals and carbohydrates for energy, but did you know the
seeds in some fruits you can eat too for nourishment. However,
many people avoid eating the fruit seeds simply because of their
belief in the old myth that they are poisonous.

Pet News

The Difference Between a Human Food Recall and a Pet Food Recall
Susan Thixton - Two food recalls, same year – one month apart. Recall #1
resulted in 700 illnesses, company responsible was fined $1l.2 million
by government. Recall #2 resulted in 8,500 deaths, company responsible
was fined $35,000. Guess which one was pet food. ConAgra Grocery
Products – manufacturer of Peter Pan Peanut Butter – just announced a
“plea agreement with U.S. attorneys” pleading guilty to a “single
misdemeanor violation of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.” The
plea agreement between government and the peanut butter manufacturer is
a fine of $11.2 million dollars (paid to the government).... So…a human
food was penalized (plea agreement) $11.2 million dollars for one
violation of the FD&C Act, what happens to a pet food that violates the
exact same laws?

Thursday - May 21, 2015 -
Today in History:

1790 - Paris was divided into 48 zones.
1819 - Bicycles were first seen in the U.S. in New York City. They were
originally known as "swift walkers."
1832 - In the U.S., the Democratic Party held its first national
convention.
1856 - Lawrence, Kansas was captured by pro-slavery forces.
1863 - The siege of the Confederate Port Hudson, LA, began.
1881 - The American branch of the Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton.
1927 - Charles A. Lindberg completed the first solo nonstop airplane
flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip began May 20.
1929 - The first automatic electric stock quotation board was used by
Sutro and Company of New York City.
1934 - Oskaloosa, IA, became the first city in the U.S. to fingerprint
all of its citizens.
1956 - The U.S. exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb in the Pacific
Ocean over Bikini Atoll.
1961 - Governor Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery, AL.
1968 - The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion, with 99 men aboard,
was last heard from. The remains of the sub were later found on the
ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
1970 - The National Guard was mobilized to quell disturbances at Ohio
State University.
1982 - The British landed in the Falkland Islands and fighting began.
1991 - In Madras, India, the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi was
killed by a bouquet of flowers that contained a bomb.
1998 - An expelled student, Kipland Kinkel, in Springfield, OR, killed 2
people and wounded 25 others with a semi-automatic rifle. Police also
discovered that the boy had killed his parents before the rampage.
1998 - In Miami, FL, five abortion clinics were hit by an butyric
acid-attacker.

World News

ISIL Controls More Than 50% of Syria After Palmyra Seizure – Monitor
Sputnik News - According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR),
the ISIL militants have now captured more than 95 thousand square
kilometers of Syrian lands (some 36,700 square miles) and have a full or
partial control of nine out of the country's 14 governorates. The
terrorist group also controls "the vast majority of oil and gas fields."
The Islamic State is a Sunni jihadist group that captured large areas in
Iraq and Syria, proclaiming a caliphate on lands it has seized.

China Bails Out Brazil In $50 Billion Regional Power Grab
Zero Hedge - On the heels of pledging $46 billion in infrastructure aid
to Pakistan, China is set to invest as much as $50 billion in Brazil
including $10 billion on a cross-mountain railway that will connect
Latin America's largest economy with Peru's ports in what Premier Li
calls "a new road to Asia." The move is a dramatic example of China's
growing foothold in what is ostensibly Washington's strongest sphere of
influence.

US Urges Greece to Support Anti-Russia Sanctions - Greek Defense
Minister
Sputnik News - The United States tried to urge Greece to support a new
round of anti-Russia sanctions, but Athens viewed Russia as an ally,
Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said. Kammenos is currently on
visit to the United States. On Wednesday, he met Christine Wormuth, US
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USDP). Greece lost more than €4
billion [$4.5 billion] due to the anti-Russia sanctions, the minister
stressed.

Plotting Against Beijing? US Holds Asian Military Summit, Excludes China
Sputnik News - As the United States struggles to maintain influence in
the South China Sea, it has pushed Pacific nations to assert themselves
against Beijing. In that effort, Washington organized a gathering of
military leaders from over 20 countries, specifically excluding China. A
first-of-its kind event, the United States hosted the PACOM Amphibious
Leaders Symposium in Hawaii for Pacific nation commanders to discuss
amphibious military capabilities. In attendance are representatives from
Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and many
others.... A US spokesman insists that Beijing’s absence is due to a
legal technicality prohibiting military-to-military exchanges between
the two nations, but China did take part in joint naval exercises last
year.

VIDEO: China warns U.S. surveillance plane
CNN - Above the South China Sea (CNN)The Chinese navy issued warnings
eight times as a U.S. surveillance plane on Wednesday swooped over
islands that Beijing is using to extend its zone of influence. The
series of man-made islands and the massive Chinese military build-up on
them have alarmed the Pentagon, which is carrying out the surveillance
flights in order to make clear the U.S. does not recognize China's
territorial claims. The militarized islands have also alarmed America's
regional allies. Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told CNN's
Erin Burnett Wednesday night that the confrontation indicates there is
"absolutely" a risk of the U.S. and China going to war sometime in the
future.

Russia to take legal moves if Ukraine defaults on $3bn debt - finance
minister
RT - Russia will appeal to the International Court of Justice if
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signs a moratorium on the payment
of Ukraine’s external debt into law and fails to pay its debt to Russia,
said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Siluanov said Ukraine was
virtually defaulting on its debt, adding that Russia doesn’t yet have
grounds to lodge any claims. If Kiev fails to pay $75 million in June,
Moscow will use its right to appeal to the court, the Minister said.

Fleeing Iraqi Troops Leave U.S. Weapons for ISIS — Again
New American - The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Tuesday that
dozens of U.S. vehicles and weapons, including tanks, armored personnel
carriers, and artillery pieces, were abandoned by fleeing Iraqi troops
when Islamic State forces captured the city of Ramadi in central Iraq
Sunday. A Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Steve Warren, estimated that a
half-dozen tanks were abandoned, a similar number of artillery pieces, a
larger number of armored personnel carriers, and about 100 wheeled
vehicles such as Humvees, the Associated Press reported.

US Approves Huge Arms Sales to Israel, Including Bunker Buster Bombs
Sputnik News - The US State Department approved the sale of $1.87
billion in weapons and precision guidance kits to Israel in order to
improve existing systems and make it easier for American and Israeli
forces to work together.... If finalized, Israel will receive a supply
of precision-guided munitions consisting of 750 bunker-buster bombs,
3,000 Hellfire missiles, 250 medium-range air-to-air missiles and 4,100
glide bombs.... Lawmakers have 15 days to block the potential sale, but
such action is rare since deals are carefully vetted before they are
formally notified to Congress.... The large scale of the deal suggests
that it is meant to replenish IAF munitions after the summer's Gaza war.

Greece Says That It Will Default On June 5th, And Moody’s Warns Of A
‘Deposit Freeze’
Economic Collapse - The Greek government says that a “moment of truth”
is coming on June 5th. Either their lenders agree to give them more
money by that date, or Greece will default on a 300 million euro loan
payment to the IMF. Of course it won’t technically be a “default”
according to IMF rules for another 30 days after that, but without a
doubt news that Greece cannot pay will send shockwaves throughout the
financial world. At that point, those holding Greek bonds will start to
panic as they realize that they might not get paid as well. All over
Europe, there are major banks that are holding large amounts of Greek
debt and derivatives that are related to the performance of Greek debt.
If something is not done to avert disaster at the last moment, a default
by Greece could be the spark that sets off a major European financial
crisis this summer.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Domestic surveillance fate unclear after Rand Paul's lengthy
Senate talk
CNBC News - Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul
commandeered the Senate floor Wednesday to deliver a nearly 11
hours-long protest against renewal of the Patriot Act, calling
the post-Sept. 11 law government intrusion on Americans'
privacy.... He finished at 11:49 p.m., having not sat for more
than 10 hours.... Although Paul called his action a filibuster,
it technically fell short of Senate rules since the bill the
Senate was considering was trade, not the Patriot Act. * Related:
10 Great Points in Rand Paul's Patriot Act Attack

Pentagon: No One to Blame for Wasting $36 Million in Afghanistan
Sputnik News - In July of 2013, John Sopko, the Special
Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)
published a letter (and a Flickr slide show for illustration)
highly critical of the wasteful project — then calculated at $34
million — and calling for an investigation into how waste on
such a massive scale could have come about. The result of that
investigation — which revises the figure for money wasted
upwards to $36 million — is that no one is to blame, and no one
will be held accountable for building a 64,000 square foot
Command and Control facility that has never been used by US
military personnel.

US Declassifies Osama Bin Laden Docs as PATRIOT Act Set to
Expire
Kurt Nimmo - Intelligence agencies in the United States have
decided to make public more than 100 previously classified
documents purportedly seized during a raid on Osama bin Laden’s
compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. “Today the ODNI (Office of the
Director of National Intelligence) released a tranche of
documents recovered during the raid,” Jeff Anchukaitis,
spokesman for the ODNI, said. The alleged tranche of documents
was announced days before the US PATRIOT Act is set to expire.
The documents appear as Kentucky Senator Rand Paul promises he
will do “everything humanly possible” to keep the Senate from
reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. * Related:
Declassified: Al-Qaeda Planned to Bomb Russian Gas Lines, US
Embassy in Moscow

House Democrat Introduces Gun Registry Bill
Kit Daniels - Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill
that would effectively create a firearms registry by forcing
private sellers at gun shows to report sales to the Attorney
General and by requiring gun show organizers to register with
the Justice Dept. The bill, H.R. 2380, would also force gun show
organizers to provide the identities of all their vendors to the
Attorney General. “The legislation would call on the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to hire investigators
to inspect gun shows and examine records kept by gun show
operators and vendors,” The Hill reported.

Homeland “Security” Caught Busing in Illegal Somalis from
Mexican Border
Daily Sheeple - The U.S. is bringing in 100,000 Muslims every
year through legal channels such as the United Nations refugee
program and various visa programs, but new reports indicate a
pipeline has been established through the southern border with
the help of the federal agency whose job it is to protect the
homeland. They are coming from Somalia and other African
nations, according to a Homeland Security official who was
caught recently transporting a busload of Africans to a
detention center near Victorville, California.

Obama’s Education Secretary Touts Government Boarding Schools
New American - In yet another scheme by the federal government
to usurp an ever-expanding role in childrearing, the Obama
administration’s top education bureaucrat, Education Secretary
Arne Duncan (shown), called last week for government boarding
schools. Claiming that there are “just certain kids we should
have 24/7,” the controversial figure also proposed, citing
inaccurate information, turning government schools across
America into “community centers” that would offer students even
more “after-school programming.” Despite escalating criticism of
Duncan and his scheming — one analyst called it “scary” — the
proposed plots were hardly surprising considering other elements
of what senior officials often refer to as the
“cradle-to-career” education agenda.

Nevada Governor signs bill allowing teacher licenses for
immigrants
Houston Chronicle - Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill Wednesday
that would make it easier for immigrants with temporary legal
status to get a Nevada teaching license, saying it would help
meet the needs of a "new Nevada." The old law allowed the state
superintendent to give a teaching license to someone who is not
a citizen but has a work permit only if there's a teacher
shortage for a subject the person can teach. The new law, which
passed the Senate and Assembly unanimously, allows those
immigrants to get a teaching license if a district has a teacher
shortage of any kind. The measure affects immigrants in the
deferred action program, also known as DACA recipients or
DREAMers.

Boy Scouts Banned From Water Pistol Fights Because They Involve
“Simulated Firearms”
Steve Watson - Boy Scouts In the US have been all but prohibited
from engaging in water gun fights and water balloon tomfoolery
by scouting officials citing a lack of kindness in the activity.
Water pistols and other toys such as rubber band guns and potato
guns have been banned for anything other than target practice,
and “eye protection must be worn,” according to page 99 of the
2015 Boy Scout handbook. The handbook also provides ludicrous
guidelines, stating “For water balloons, use small,
biodegradable balloons, and fill them no larger than a ping pong
ball.”... Former scouts weighed in, declaring the rules, which
will apply to hundreds of thousands of scouts, as “out of
touch”.

Economy & Business

5 Major Banks Plead Guilty To Market Rigging, Fined $5.7 Billion
Truth in Media - On Wednesday, the Department of Justice
announced that five major banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of
Scotland, JPMorgan Chase, UBS and Citigroup – will be fined
approximately $5.7 billion after pleading guilty to crimes
involving the manipulation of global currencies and interest
rates. The DoJ noted that four of the banks – Citigroup,
JPMorgan Chase, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland – have
been forced to plead guilty to antitrust violations in the
foreign exchange market, after they allegedly worked together to
enhance their profits by manipulating the $5-trillion-a-day
foreign exchange market to $10 billion.

Oregon to test pay-per-mile idea as replacement for gas tax
(AP) - Starting July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers in Oregon can
sign up to drive with devices that collect data on how much they
have driven and where. The volunteers will agree to pay 1.5
cents for each mile traveled on public roads within Oregon,
instead of the tax now added when filling up at the pump. Some
electric and hybrid car owners, however, say the new tax would
be unfair to them and would discourage purchasing of green
vehicles.... State officials say it is only fair for owners of
green vehicles to be charged for maintaining roads, just as
owners of gasoline-powered vehicles do.

Energy & Environment

VIDEO: State of Emergency Declared for Oil Spill Off Santa Barbara Coast
NBC Los Angeles - Oil floating off the Southern California coast after a
spill from a broken oil pipe now stretches about 9 miles, an overnight
expansion that was "more than we anticipated last night," a U.S. Coast
Guard captain said Wednesday. The spill along the coast near Santa
Barbara dumped possibly as much as 105,000 gallons of oil from a 2-foot
pipeline onto the Refugio State Beach shore, creating miles-long slicks
in the ocean after leaking for several hours before it was shut off....
Plains All American Pipeline says it then stopped the flow and blocked
the culvert. "We are very sorry this accident happened. We're bringing
all our resources to help," Palmer said. "Our focus remains on safety of
first responders and protection of environment. We are committed to
thorough cleanup of this accident. We are sorry for the inconvenience of
this spill to the community." Related: All-American Pipeline has had 10
serious crude oil spills in four states

Indiana regulators reject Duke Energy’s $1.9B plan to install ‘smart’
meters (You may get a Forbidden Message but keep trying)
Take Back Your Power - State regulators have rejected a proposal from
Duke Energy to raise customers’ rates. The Indiana Utility Regulatory
Commission said in a ruling on May 8th that the company didn’t provide
enough details for its $1.9 billion, seven-year plan. The proposal would
have put Duke Energy’s Indiana customers on smart grid technology and
have installed privacy invading digital smart meters in every home,
tracking detailed energy consumption and transmitting that data using
potentially harmful radiofrequency emissions.... “This was a big win for
consumers,” Kerwin Olson said, executive director of the Citizens Action
Coalition. “Duke failed to meet their burden of proof. The law clearly
spells out criteria that the utility has to get in order to meet this
kind of approval. And this is a lot of money.”

Climate Blockbuster: New NASA Data Shows Polar Ice Has Not Receded Since
1979
Steve Watson - NASA has updated its data from satellite readings,
revealing that the planet’s polar ice caps have not retreated
significantly since 1979, when measurements began. Indeed, the polar ice
has, for almost three years now, remained above the 35 year average....
Those alarmists, however, ignored the fact that total polar ice had only
receded by a modest amount, no where near ten percent. Those alarmists,
however, ignored the fact that total polar ice had only receded by a
modest amount, no where near ten percent. Al Gore used the 10 percent
figure and even warned that the Arctic ice cap could completely
disappear by 2014.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Pollinator plan aims high, but falls short
Center for Food Safety - The White House Pollinator Health Task
Force (WHTF) has just released its strategy to address the
threats to bees, monarchs and other pollinators.... While the
plan focuses heavily on improving pollinator habitat, it is
blind to the fact that new habitat will simply become
contaminated by insecticides still heavily in use, ultimately
harming pollinators. We can’t just plant more wild flowers near
crop land and expect insecticides to stop being a problem.
Similarly, while efforts to restore milkweed habitat for
monarchs are important, without addressing the agricultural
practices responsible for the eradication of milkweed, monarch
populations will not rebound to resilient, healthy levels.

The Perennial Garden: 8 Vegetables You Can Plant Once And Enjoy
Forever
Off the Grid News - If you are the type of gardener who likes to
grow vegetables but rarely has time to plan and plant a garden,
a perennial vegetable garden may be a good choice for your
lifestyle. There are vegetables you can plant once, then never
have to plant again. You can have your garden, but with less
effort than usual.

Health

County Seizes 2 Children Because They’re Not Vaccinated
Off the Grid News - Parents whose children are taken by social
workers can fight back against the government and win. Los
Angeles County agreed to pay a couple whose children were seized
without a warrant $800,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit.
Among the allegations against the family: Their children were
not immunized. “This lawsuit alleges that the Department of
Children and Family Services (DCFS) violated plaintiffs’ civil
rights arising from wrongfully detaining plaintiffs’ children,”
a letter from LA County Senior Assistant County Counsel Patrick
A. Wu to the LA County Board of Supervisors stated.

32 Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar (8 are Backed by
Scientific Research)
Juicing with G - One of the most popular types of vinegar, the
apple cider (or ACV) is touted by a lot of natural health
advocates as having a lot of health benefits some of which
include weight loss, diabetes control and improving
cardiovascular health.... If you look around the web, you’ll see
that there are a lot of benefits, some are backed by scientific
research while some aren’t. My goal here is to enumerate all of
these benefits I find here and link to the sources.

Can a Synthetic Version of Sulforaphane Offer the Same Benefits
as Broccoli?
Dr. Mercola - The so-called “broccoli pill” (Sulforadex)
consists of a stabilized, synthetic form of sulforaphane... One
of broccoli's claims to fame is sulforaphane, an organic sulfur
compound found in cruciferous vegetables, including not only
broccoli but also Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower,
horseradish, and arugula. Broccoli sprouts are actually the
richest source.... If you want to have your own ready supply of
cancer-fighting nutrients, learn to grow sprouts.... Sprouts may
be small, but they are packed with nutrition, including
vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and enzymes that help protect
against free radical damage.... The sulforaphane pill sounds
promising, but as a synthetic version it may succumb to the
pitfalls of other synthetic nutrient reproductions, which tend
to not quite match up to the original (and sometimes have
unintended side effects).

Pet News

Walmart's Private Label Jerky Treat linked to 23 Sick Dogs, 3 Deaths
Susan Thixton - To date, jerky treats imported from China have been
killing and causing serious illness in dogs (and a few cats) for more
than 8 years. FDA continues to tell pet food consumers they are
investigating, but for some reason the FDA can’t seem to find the cause.
Only with instances reported to FDA (a small percentage of the actual
amount), jerky treats imported from China “are suspected in 4,800 pet
illnesses and 1,000 dog deaths.”

Wednesday - May 20, 2015 -
Today in History:

1775 - North Carolina became the first colony to declare its
independence. This is the date that is on the George state flag even
though the date of this event has been questioned.
1784 - The Peace of Versailles ended a war between France, England, and
Holland.
1861 - North Carolina became the eleventh state to secede from the
Union.
1861 - During the American Civil War, the capital of the Confederacy was
moved from Montgomery, AL, to Richmond, VA.
1902 - The U.S. military occupation of Cuba ended.
1902 - Cuba gained its independence from Spain.
1916 - Norman Rockwell’s first cover on "The Saturday Evening Post"
appeared.
1926 - The U.S. Congress passed the Air Commerce Act. The act gave the
Department of Commerce the right to license pilots and planes.
1927 - Charles Lindbergh took off from New York to cross the Atlantic
for Paris aboard his airplane the "Spirit of St. Louis." The trip took
33 1/2 hours.
1932 - Amelia Earhart took off to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
She became the first woman to achieve the feat.
1939 - The first telecast over telephone wires was sent from Madison
Square Garden to the NBC-TV studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in
Manhattan.
1941 - Germany invaded Crete by air.
1942 - Japan completed the conquest of Burma.
1961 - A white mob attacked the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, AL. The
event prompted the federal government to send U.S. marshals.
1969 - U.S. and South Vietnamese forces captured Apbia Mountain, which
was referred to as Hamburger Hill.
1970 - 100,000 people marched in New York supporting U.S. policies in
Vietnam.
1985 - The FBI arrested U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer John Walker.
Walker had begun spying for the Soviet Union in 1968.
1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope sent back its first photographs.
1993 - The final episode of "Cheers" was aired on NBC-TV.
1996 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Colorado measure banning
laws that would protect homosexuals from discrimination.
1999 - At Heritage High School in Conyers, GA, a 15-year-old shot and
injured 6 students. He then surrendered to an assistant principal at the
school.
2010 - Scientists announced that they had created a functional synthetic
genome.

World News

Mortar attack on Russian embassy in Damascus an ‘act of terror’ – Moscow
RT - The Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus was shelled
on Tuesday, with Moscow stating that it considers the attack on its
diplomatic mission an act of terror. Two mortar rounds landed on the
premises of the Russian Embassy in the afternoon, “one of them fell near
the main entrance, the other hit an administrative building," Asiya
Turuchiyeva embassy's spokeswoman, told RIA Novosti.... “We treat the
incident as terrorist act, aimed against the Russian Embassy. We
strongly condemn its perpetrators, organizers and instigators. We
reaffirm our solidarity with the Syrian authorities in their efforts to
combat the terrorist threat in the territory of Syria,” Aleksandr
Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.

Russia Promises Response to US Missile Defense Systems in Ukraine
Sputnik News - Earlier in the day, Ukrainian National Security Service
Secretary Oleksander Turchynov said that Kiev may consider placing
missile defense systems in its territory after consultations. “If this
means that Ukraine plans to deploy elements of US missile defense
systems on its territory, then, obviously, this could be understood as
being completely negative because it would pose a threat to the Russian
Federation,” Peskov told journalists. He said that if Ukraine made the
step, then Russia would be forced to respond.

Western Coup Attempt Will Not Succeed in Macedonia
Sputnik News - Anti-government protests and a Western attempt to stage a
coup in Macedonia will not succeed, as the majority of people are firmly
behind current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, a political expert
specializing in Macedonian politics, told Sputnik. On Sunday, an
anti-government protest took place on the streets of the Macedonian
capital Skopje. During the protest, Macedonian opposition leader Zoran
Zaev blamed the government of current Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski for
Macedonia's social and economic problems, and accused several Cabinet
members of corruption. Zaev demanded the resignation of the current
government and called for the creation of a new transitional government.
A day after that, a mass pro-government rally took place in Skopje. The
event was attended by some 90,000 people in support of Gruevski's
government.

Iran Coordinates Aid Deliveries to Yemen Directly With UN
Sputnik News - Iran has coordinated aid delivery to the conflict-torn
Yemen directly with the United Nations, Director General of the Iranian
Foreign Ministry’s Political and International Affairs Department Hamid
Baidinejad told Sputnik Tuesday. "The coordination was made with the
UN-related agencies delivering humanitarian aid, on provision that the
ship [with aid] will moor in Yemen, not in Djibouti. It is now moving
toward Yemen, and accompanied by warships of Iran," Baidinejad told
Sputnik. The statement came days after US called on Iran to direct its
aid ship, the Iran Shahed, to the UN aid distribution hub in Djibouti.
The United States tracked Iran’s vessel escorted by warships amid fears
that it carried military cargo.

Ukraine May Now Suspend Payment on Restructured Foreign Debt
Sputnik News - Ukraine's parliament adopted a government law on Tuesday
allowing to suspend payments on restructured foreign debt. The law was
adopted by 256 votes, while the minimum necessary for a bill to be
pushed through the Ukrainian parliament amounts to 226. The new law also
concerns Eurobonds, which Russia bought in 2013 from Ukraine in the
amount of $3 billion. The law will be valid until July 1, 2016.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Sham cancer charities bilked donors for $187 mil, spent money on
luxury – gov’t
RT - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), all 50 states, and the
District of Columbia claim that the four foundations
fraudulently told donors their money would help cancer patients.
Instead, money from the donations overwhelmingly went into the
pockets of charity operators, their families and friends, and
professional fundraisers.... The complaint further alleges that
the charity executives employed family members and friends, and
spent the donated funds on “cars, trips, luxury cruises, college
tuition, gym memberships, jet ski outings, sporting event and
concert tickets, and dating site memberships.” Professional
fundraisers hired by the charities often received 85 percent or
more of every donation, the FTC said.

Weapons Companies Profit from Fear of Iran Campaign
AllGov - Iran has been a great bogeyman for American merchants
of war by helping boost billions of dollars in military sales to
oil-rich states in the Middle East. In the last five years, U.S.
arms purchases by Gulf Arab countries have skyrocketed by 70%.
Saudi Arabia alone has paid out $90 billion to American arms
firms in that time. U.S. defense contractors have benefited by
selling weapons systems and munitions to Persian Gulf countries
that have worried about Iranian military plans in the region.

Shocking Jade Helm Training Video: Children Used in Mock FEMA
Camp Roundups
Daily Sheeple - The footage below, released by the Marines and
reported on by Gary Franchi of the Next News Network, shows our
troops training to take on dissidents right here on American
soil in the lead up to the unprecedented Jade Helm 15 training
drill coming this summer. The video, shot by Sgt. Daniel
Kujanpaa, shows Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment,
1st Marine Division practicing “assault support tactics” on
crisis actors in Yuma in a seven-week pre-training exercise
leading up to Jade Helm as children look on. “This footage is
probably the most shocking documentation of FEMA camp roundup
training to date: children used alongside actors in a bloody
confrontation on American soil,” Franchi reported.

I’ve read Obama’s secret trade deal, and Warren is right to be
concerned
Politico - I’ve actually read the TPP text provided to the
government’s own advisors, and I’ve given the president an
earful about how this trade deal will damage this nation. But I
can’t share my criticisms with you. I can tell you that
Elizabeth Warren is right about her criticism of the trade deal.
We should be very concerned about what's hidden in this trade
deal—and particularly how the Obama administration is keeping
information secret even from those of us who are supposed to
provide advice.

Feds Exempt MRAPs from Prohibited Police Equipment Despite
Admitting They’re “Militaristic in Nature”
Kit Daniels - Although Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles
(MRAPs) are “militaristic in nature,” cops should use them
because they have “significant utility for law enforcement
operations,” according to President Obama’s task force on police
equipment. The interagency Law Enforcement Equipment Working
Group (LEEWG), which was established by Obama under Executive
Order 13688, purposely exempted MRAPs and other military
vehicles from a list of equipment prohibited from police use. To
explain the exemption, LEEWG described MRAPs as equipment “that
could be seen as militaristic in nature yet also may have
significant utility for law enforcement operations.”

Mom Arrested, Shackled, Jailed Because Her Honor Roll Son Had 3
Unexcused Absences at School
Free Thought Project - Screven County, Georgia – Mother and
substitute teacher Julie Giles was arrested this week because
her son had too many unexcused absences from public school.
Writing on her Facebook page before turning herself in, Giles
said “If anyone feels the need to go public with this feel free
to do so….the facts are Sam originally had what they consider 12
unexcused absences, 6 are allowed per year, so he had 6 more
than is acceptable, but the doctor reissued 3 excuses that Sam
didn’t turn in, so basically I am being arrested for THREE
days.”

1,773,000: Homeschooled Children Up 61.8% in 10 Years
CNS News - In the ten-year period from 2003 to 2012, the number
of American children 5 through 17 years old who were being
homeschooled by their parents climbed by 61.8 percent, according
to newly released data from the U.S. Department of Education. At
the same time, the percentage of all U.S. students in the
5-through-17 age group who were homeschooled increased from 2.2
percent to 3.4 percent.

Economy & Business

World Trade Body Rejects Country of Origin Labels on Meat
Fox Business - Labels on packaged steaks and other cuts of meat
in the United States that say where the animals were born,
raised and slaughtered will have to be dropped or revised after
a World Trade Organization ruling. The office of the U.S. Trade
Representative said Monday that the WTO has rejected a final
U.S. appeal, deciding that the U.S. "country of origin" labels
put Canadian and Mexican livestock at a disadvantage. The Obama
administration has already revised the labels to try to comply
with WTO obligations. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said
that if the WTO ruled against the final U.S. appeal, Congress
will have to weigh in to avoid retaliation from the two neighbor
countries. The ruling is a victory for the U.S. meat industry,
which has said the labels are burdensome.

Obama Administration Issues 184 Major Rules Costing $80 Billion
Annually
CNS News - During the six years that President Obama has held
office, the number and cost of regulations has continued to
climb, with the issuance of 184 major rules estimated to cost
$80 billion annually, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Red
Tape Rising report. A major rule is “generally defined as having
an expected economic impact of at least $100 million per year.”
“The number and cost of government regulations continued to
climb in 2014, intensifying Washington’s control over the
economy and Americans’ lives,” the report stated. “The addition
of 27 new major rules last year pushed the tally for the Obama
Administration’s first six years to 184, with scores of other
rules in the pipeline.

US Congress Moves to Put Ex-Presidents on an Allowance
Sputnik News - After leaving office, US presidents can count on
a lucrative career delivering speeches and signing book deals.
With personal income stretching into the millions, a
Congressional panel has voted to impose new limits on how much
taxpayer money ex-presidents can receive. Last year, US
taxpayers paid $3.5 million in pensions and benefits for former
presidents, according to the Congressional Research Service.
$1.3 million of that went to George W. Bush. $950,000 went to
Bill Clinton.

Energy & Environment

Pipeline rupture leaks oil on Santa Barbara beaches
LA Times - Emergency officials were responding Tuesday afternoon
to a ruptured pipeline that was estimated to have leaked 21,000
gallons of oil into the ocean off Santa Barbara County,
authorities said. By 3:45 p.m., the leak had left a
four-mile-long sheen of oil extending about 50 yards into the
waters along Refugio State Beach in Goleta, said Coast Guard
Petty Officer Andrea Anderson. The ruptured pipeline is operated
by Plains All America Pipeline and runs along the coast near
Highway 101, Coast Guard officials said.

FBI Invokes National Security to Justify Surveillance of Tar
Sands Protestors
The Intercept - The FBI has wide leeway to conduct surveillance
on possible threats to “national security.” Where the rubber
meets the road, of course, is who the Bureau decides constitutes
such a threat. Both the president and the Pentagon have
proclaimed that global warming is a threat to U.S. national
security. But there’s no sign that the FBI is wiretapping fossil
fuel company CEOs.... According to the Guardian, FBI files show
it conducted an investigation into Tar Sands Blockade members in
which the Bureau “collated inside-knowledge about forthcoming
protests, documented the identities of individuals photographing
oil-related infrastructure, scrutinized police intelligence and
cultivated at least one informant.

Science & Technology

Progressive Insurance Tracking Device Disabling Vehicles While
Driving, Thousands Claim
Mikael Thalen - Thousands of drivers across the country are
blaming the Progressive Auto Insurance “Snapshot,” a small
device which monitors and tracks a user’s driving habits, for
disabling their vehicles without warning.... According to court
documents obtained by WBZ-TV, Progressive has received as many
as 8,121 similar complaints from Snapshot users. Although
Progressive denies its customers reports, the company has paid
out $582,009 in claims since February 2014.... Aside from what
appears to be inherent safety issues, the Snapshot device has
also been shown to be vulnerable to hackers.

Study: Average Attention Span Now 8 Seconds – Lower than a
Goldfish
Natural Society - A study from Microsoft involving 2,000 people
has found that the average attention span has dipped to a low 8
seconds – down from 12 seconds in 2000. A goldfish has an
attention span of 9 seconds.... Because these various IT devices
are often very close to a person’s body, they can and do have
profound effects on the human bioelectric field. The key factor
in this ever-intensifying dynamic between human and technology
is the length of time of daily interaction. n other words,
picking up a cellphone to make a couple of calls a day is one
thing; being tied to your smartphone 24 hour a day, 7 days a
week is something altogether different. Herein lies one of the
key causes of the shrinking attention span.

Gardening, Farming & Homesteading

Avian Flu Outbreak Among Chickens—What This Disaster Can Tell Us
About Our Food Production (PBS video report)
Dr. Mercola - Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are
major warehouse-style growing facilities where animals are
crowded together by the thousands, or in the case of chickens,
tens of thousands. These animals are fed a completely unnatural
diet of glyphosate-containing genetically engineered (GE) grains
mixed with antibiotics—a surefire recipe for drug resistance and
out-of-control spread of disease, both among animals and humans.
This problem is certainly not restricted to chicken CAFOs. The
same applies to cattle and hog farms as well. As an example, hog
farmers are six times more likely than the general population to
carry drug-resistant Staph bacteria.

Survival/Preparedness

What to Look for When Shopping for Food Storage
Natural Blaze - With all of the varying complexities of food
storage and food storage companies, it may be difficult to sort
through and prioritize what is important and what is not. I
don’t know about you but with the dizzying array of things to
take into consideration, you just might want to throw you hands
up in dismay and yell “help me!!”

Health

11 Plants and Herbs That Clean Lungs and Heal Respiratory
Infections
Natural News Blogs - Viral and bacterial infections is sweeping
across the Northern Hemisphere and people are taking longer to
heal from an array of symptoms within the respiratory system. If
you are resorting to conventional medicine to address these
infections with antibiotics, you are not only adding to the
problems associated with antibiotic resistance, but you’re also
doing little to address the healing mechanisms within your body
to address the cause. Herbal remedies not only boost lung
health, but they can heal infections and even repair lung
damage. Here are 15 of the best herbs to boost lung health.

Majority of Physicians in U.S. Now Favor Medical Cannabis
Health Impact News - The use of marijuana for medical purposes
is now legal in 23 states and, as of this writing, 9 states have
pending legislation or ballot measures to legalize medical
marijuana. Estimates are that between 85 and 95 percent of
Americans are in favor of medical cannabis, and nearly 60
percent support complete legalization of marijuana. And doctors
agree. In 2014, a survey found that the majority of
physicians—56 percent—favor nationwide legalization of medical
cannabis, with support being highest among oncologists and
hematologists.

7 Ways To Prevent and Even Reverse Heart Disease With Nutrition
Green Med Info - Considering that heart disease is the #1 cause
of death in the developed world, anything that can prevent
cardiac mortality, or slow or even reverse the cardiovascular
disease process, should be of great interest to the general
public. Considering that heart disease is the #1 cause of death
in the developed world, anything that can prevent cardiac
mortality, or slow or even reverse the cardiovascular disease
process, should be of great interest to the general public.
Instead, they spend billions buying highly toxic
cholesterol-lowering pharmaceuticals with known cardiotoxicity,
among 300 other proven side effects, simply because their doctor
told them to do so.

Pet News

Over 3,000 Complaints Tied to This Brand of Dog Food
Dr. Becker - Frank Lucido, a California pet owner, has filed a class
action lawsuit against Nestlé Purina PetCare, claiming that Beneful
kibble was responsible for sickening two of his dogs and killing a
third. All three dogs had symptoms and clinical signs consistent with
poisoning. The lawsuit cites Purina’s use of propylene glycol in all
Beneful formulas, and the presence of mycotoxins as possible
contributors to the Lucido dogs’ illness. The suit also alleges there
are at least 3,000 additional consumer complaints online about Beneful.
Purina, while calling the complaints “baseless,” admits that Lucido’s is
the third class action lawsuit naming Beneful in recent years.

Tuesday - May 19, 2015 -
Today in History:

1796 - The first U.S. game law was approved. The measure called
for penalties for hunting or destroying game within Indian territory.
1856 - U.S. Senator Charles Sumner spoke out against slavery.
1864 - The Union and Confederate armies launched their last attacks
against each other at Spotsylvania in Virginia.
1906 - The Federated Boys' Clubs, forerunner of the Boys' Clubs of
America, were organized.
1911 - The first American criminal conviction that was based on
fingerprint evidence occurred in New York City.
1921 - The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which
established national quotas for immigrants.
1926 - Thomas Edison spoke on the radio for the first time.
1958 - Canada and the U.S. formally established the North American Air
Defense Command.
1962 - Marilyn Monroe performed a sultry rendition of "Happy Birthday"
for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The event was a fund-raiser at New
York's Madison Square Garden.
1964 - The U.S. State Department reported that diplomats had found about
40 microphones planted in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
1967 - The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and
Britain that banned nuclear weapons from outer space.
1974 - Erno Rubik invented the puzzle what would later become known as
the Rubik's Cube.
1967 - U.S. planes bombed Hanoi for the first time.
1992 - The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect. The
amendment prohibits Congress from giving itself midterm pay raises.
1998 - In Russia, strikes broke out over unpaid wages.
2000 - The bones of the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus
rex skeleton went on display in Chicago.
2011 - Katie Couric, the first regular solo anchorwoman of a network
evening newscast, signed off the "CBS Evening News" for the last time
after five years.

World News

Germany, France & Italy sign EU drone program, challenge US, Israeli
alternatives
RT - Germany, France and Italy have agreed to start a European drone
program aimed at reducing reliance on US and Israeli technology. The
first EU-tailored drone is expected to be operating by 2025....
According to German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, this EU drone
project “makes us, the Europeans, independent." "The goal of the
Euro-drone is that we can decide by ourselves in Europe on where we
deploy the Euro-drone and how we use it," she said. Poland and Spain
have also expressed interest in the plan, officials said.

We must resist corporations’: Le Pen targets troubled TTIP deal in new
campaign
RT - Leader of France’s National Front party, Marine Le Pen, has
launched a month-long blitz against the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP) – a proposed EU-US treaty, which has been
criticized for secretiveness and lack of accountability. "It is vital
that the French people know about TTIP’s content and its motivations in
order to be able to fight it. Because our fellow countrymen must have
the choice of their future, because they should impose a model for
society that suits them, and not forced by multinational companies eager
for profits, Brussels technocrats sold to the lobbies, politicians from
the UMP [party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy], who are subservient
to these technocrats,” Le Pen said during a press conference in Paris.

Are They About To Confiscate Money From Bank Accounts In Greece Just
Like They Did In Cyprus?
Economic Collapse - At this point, the Greek government has not received
any money from the EU or the IMF since August 2014. As you can imagine,
that means that Greek government accounts are just about bone dry. The
new Greek government continues to insist that it will never “violate its
anti-austerity mandate”, but the screws are tightening. Right now the
unemployment rate in Greece is over 25 percent and the banking system is
on the verge of collapse. It isn’t going to take much to set off a
panic, and when it does happen there are already rumors that the EU
plans to confiscate money from private bank accounts just like they did
in Cyprus.

Pentagon: If Ramadi falls, US will help Baghdad return it
Worldbulletin News - While stopping short of confirming ISIL's statement
it had seized full control of Anbar province's capital, the Defense
Department appeared to leave open that possibility, which would mark a
major defeat for the Baghdad government. "Ramadi has been contested
since last summer and ISIL now has the advantage," Pentagon spokeswoman
Elissa Smith said. She said the loss of the city would not mean the
overall Iraq military campaign was turning in ISIL's favor, but
acknowledged it would give the group a "propaganda boost." "That just
means the coalition will have to support Iraqi forces to take it back
later," Smith said, adding that the United States continued providing it
with air support and advice.

Obama Promises U.S. Military will Defend Rich Arab Dictatorships
AllGov - High officials from six Persian Gulf countries got assurances
last week from President Barack Obama at a meeting of the Cooperation
Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) that the United States
would respond, perhaps with military force, to an “external threat” to
any of the countries. The six countries represented at the meeting,
Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; Bahrain; Qatar; Oman; and the United Arab
Emirates, seem to have no problems dealing with what they perceive as
internal threats, however. Amnesty International has cataloged human
rights abuses in each of those countries.

Bombing in Yemen as humanitarian truce ends
Al Jazeera - Arab coalition nations have resumed air strikes against
Houthi fighters in Yemen as a UN envoy called for an extension of a
five-day humanitarian ceasefire that expired late Sunday. The coalition
targeted Houthi rebel positions in al-Sawlaban and al-Arish in Aden
province, Saudi military officials said early on Monday. Al-Masirah TV,
a Houthi-backed channel, reported that Saudi troops were also shelling
al-Manzala district in al-Dalih near the Yemen-Saudi border, in addition
to Al-Ghawr mountain. "I call on all parties to renew their commitment
to this truce for five more days at least," UN envoy to Yemen Ismail
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said earlier in Riyadh… His appeal followed clashes
between rebels and pro-government forces across south Yemen on Saturday
despite the truce, which has largely held since starting on Tuesday at
2000 GMT.

‘Nuclear disaster waiting to happen’: Royal Navy probes Trident
whistleblower's claims
RT - The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into whistleblower
William McNeilly, who exposed horrid security lapses in UK’s trident
nuclear program which make it easier for intruders to access some
secured areas than enter “most nightclubs.”UK authorities are “concerned
for the whereabouts” of the 25-year old whistleblower, who went absent
without leave and cooperated with WikiLeaks to post a detailed 18-page
report called The Nuclear Secrets.... In his revelations, the
whistleblower notes some 30 safety and security flaws on Trident
submarines that are based out of Faslane on the Clyde, Scotland.
McNeilly took his time outlining the ease at which potential terrorist
can infiltrate the secured base.

VIDEO: All Charges Dropped Against Kent Hovind!
Judge Margaret Casey Rodgers drops all charges against Creation
Science Evangelist Kent Hovind! Now we will await full
restitution and damages for all of the false charges brought
against Pastor Hovind since 2004. An innocent man has spend
nearly NINE YEARS in prison.

Sen. Warren releases ‘Broken Promises’ report in face of Obama’s
TPP vows
RT - One of the biggest critics of the proposed Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal being touted by the White House raises
questions about the Obama administration’s promises for the TPP
in a new report. The 15-page “Broken Promises” study put out by
the Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) on Monday this
week contains what the lawmaker’s office describes as highlights
from “two decades of failed enforcement by the United States of
labor and environmental standards” related to past free trade
agreements. * Related:
Broken Promises (pdf)

Newly Released Documents Indicate Key Hillary Clinton Claim on
Emails Was Not True
The Blaze - Emails published by the New York Times Monday
indicate that Hillary Clinton used more than one private email
address during her time as secretary of state, contradicting
previous claims from the Democratic presidential contender’s
office. Multiple emails show Clinton used account
“hrod17@clintonemail.com ” while serving in the Obama
administration as secretary of state. Clinton’s attorney, David
Kendall, had previously told Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) that that
particular address had not “existed during Secretary Clinton’s
tenure as Secretary of State.” Another statement from Clinton’s
office said she only used one address during her time as
secretary of state.

Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration
Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10
Days in Advance
Judicial Watch - Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained
more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents
from the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State
revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack
on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda
and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar
Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in
advance.... The new documents also provide the first official
confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms
shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an
August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the
predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.

Trade pact foes: Deal could cause flood of immigrants
Politico - Opponents of giving the Obama administration broad
authority to negotiate a trans-Pacific trade deal, including
Republican senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, are pushing a new
argument: It could trigger a flood of immigrants into the
country… who is circulating letters and memos to lawmakers
warning that the fast-track legislation pending before both
chambers could allow for a tide of foreign workers with little
congressional oversight. “There are numerous ways TPA could
facilitate immigration increases above current law — and
precious few ways anyone in Congress could stop its happening,”
Sessions wrote in a memo circulated Sunday. [There’s more to the
letter than immigration concerns]

Rep. Louie Gohmert Suggests Feds Using Jade Helm to “Provoke a
Fight” With Citizens
Paul Joseph Watson - Congressman Louie Gohmert has called for
changes to the Jade Helm military exercise, arguing that the
labeling of Texas and Utah as “hostile” states in Army documents
related to the drill is “suspicious,” while suggesting that the
federal government is trying to “provoke a fight” with citizens.
In a piece published by the Highland County Press, Gohmert, who
is Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism
and Homeland Security, suggests that the Utah and Texas may have
been labeled negatively because they are red states. “Once I
observed the map depicting “hostile,” “permissive” and
“uncertain” states and locations, I was rather appalled that the
hostile areas amazingly have a Republican majority and believe
in the sanctity of the United States Constitution,” writes
Gohmert.

Science and Reason Takes Back Seat to 9/11 Official Story In
Historic AIA Resolution Vote
Activist Post - In a historic vote delegates of the American
Institute of Architects (AIA) overwhelmingly voted down
Resolution 15-6 which called for AIA to support a new
investigation of the destruction of World Trade Center building
7 on September 11th 2001. The resolution, which was introduced
by AIA member Dan Barnum FAIA, was voted down overwhelmingly by
a vote of 3892 - 160 meaning 96% of the delegates voted to
ignore the science, the facts, and the evidence which is today
common knowledge about the destruction of WTC 7!

Warning: You WILL be interrogated for driving within 100 miles
of the Canadian border
MassPrivateI - It's about to get much WORSE, the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved Bill S.750
which gives Border Patrol/DHS agents “immediate access to
federal land within 100 miles” of both national borders and
prohibit the “Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture” from
impeding any CBP activities. “Border Patrol already has
unfettered access to protected federal public lands along the
border,” Dan Millis, borderlands program coordinator for the
Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club. “In fact, Border Patrol
currently has more access to the border and surrounding lands
than the public.”.... “It demonstrates the overreach and
overkill of waiving laws 100 miles inland. That’s what McCain’s
bill does.”

No tanks! US police to lose some military equipment, but not all
RT - Under new rules endorsed by President Obama, US law
enforcement will be banned from using some military equipment,
such as tracked vehicles, grenade launchers, bayonets, heavy
machine guns and most camouflage uniforms. According to the Law
Enforcement Equipment Working Group report, released Monday, the
police should not be allowed access to weapons and uniforms
whose “appearance may undermine community trust when used in
support of civilian law enforcement activities.” Link to T

Richland’s $4.1 million police station funded by civil
forfeiture
Mississippi Watchdog - The Mississippi city of Richland has a
new $4.1 million police station, a top-level training center and
a fleet of black-and-white Dodge Charger police cars. All of it
was paid for through civil forfeitures of property and cash
seized during traffic stops of what police say were suspected
drug runners on Interstate 20. Civil libertarians question the
constitutionality of civil forfeiture, which has become a key
part of revenue for state and local law enforcement agencies
nationwide. Under the laws of many states, citizens can be
deprived of their property or even cash if police merely suspect
the owners to be involved in criminal activity.

Veteran News

Video of Iraq war vet dying in Texas jail after being mauled by
riot guards
RT - In 2012, active-duty soldier James Brown reported to the El
Paso County Jail to serve a two-day DWI sentence. New video of
his time in custody has revealed aggressive force being used on
him by officers, who ignored his repeated pleas for breath.
KFOX14 obtained video recorded during Sergeant James Brown's
custody, which finally sheds some light on a death the county
sheriff's department claims was caused by a "pre-existing
medical condition." Brown, 26, was an active-duty soldier at
Fort Bliss in Texas who has served two tours of combat duty in
Iraq. He had no previous criminal record.

Economy & Business

The Debt To GDP Ratio For The Entire World: 286 Percent
Economic Collapse - Did you know that there is more than $28,000
of debt for every man, woman and child on the entire planet? And
since close to 3 billion of those people survive on less than 2
dollars a day, your share of that debt is going to be much
larger than that. If we took everything that the global economy
produced this year and everything that the global economy
produced next year and used it to pay all of this debt, it still
would not be enough. According to a recent report put out by the
McKinsey Global Institute entitled “Debt and (not much)
deleveraging“, the total amount of debt on our planet has grown
from 142 trillion dollars at the end of 2007 to 199 trillion
dollars today. This is the largest mountain of debt in the
history of the world, and those numbers mean that we are in
substantially worse condition than we were just prior to the
last financial crisis.

Abolishing Cash – New Age of Economic Totalitarianism
Armstrong Economics - Europe is moving full speed ahead to
eliminate all cash. Instead of reforming and tackling the
economic problems, government always seeks to maintain the same
course of thinking and that now leads us to the totalitarian
approach coming from Brussels. To maintain the euro, they must
maintain the banks. But the bank reserves are debts of all
member states. As government becomes insolvent as in Greece, the
banking system is undermined. The only way to prevent the
banking collapse is to prevent people from withdrawing cash.
Hence, we see this trend is surfacing in all the mainstream
press to get the people ready for what is coming after 2015.75 –
the elimination of cash.

City Takes Family's Two Mini Dairy Goats; Pay Thousands in Fines
or Same to Rewrite Code
Natural Blaze - The Agenda 21 lovin' code enforcers are at it
again, stoking situations and aggression where there were none -
and that is what is most disturbing to peace. A Visalia,
California family was initially threatened $1,000 in fines per
day for having two miniature dairy goats in their ample-spaced,
fenced back yard. A mom decided to have them because she
physically cannot breastfeed, and Visalia in the San Joaquin
Valley prides itself on being "green" and tolerant of natural
lifestyles. Apparently the city wants her to choose between GMO
soy formula, paying fines in punishment OR paying over $3,500
for their having to rewrite the code. In the meantime - how does
she get her Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats back?

Health

Statin drug use nearly doubles your risk of diabetes, study
claims
(NaturalNews) Previous studies have shown a link between statin
use and increased diabetes rates, but the new study is the first
to show that statins seem to increase diabetes risk even in
otherwise healthy people who are not predisposed to the disease.
"In our study, statin use was associated with a significantly
higher risk of new-onset diabetes, even in a very healthy
population," lead author Ishak Mansi said. "The risk of diabetes
with statins has been known, but up until now it was thought
that this might be due to the fact that people who were
prescribed statins had greater medical risks to begin with."

The Grain That Damages The Human Brain
Green Med Info - With increasing recognition among medical
professionals and the lay public alike that the health of gut
and brain are intimately connected (i.e. the 'gut-brain' axis),
the concept that gluten-containing grains can damage the human
brain is beginning to be taken more seriously.... A recent study
published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and
Psychiatry titled, "Hyperexcitable brain and refractory coeliac
disease: a new syndrome," has identified a "new syndrome" within
the broader array of so-called "gluten related disorders (GRD)"
which the authors are calling "Hyperexcitable brain and
refractory celiac disease."... They point out that neurological
manifestations of gluten-induced toxicity can occur with or
without evidence of intestinal damage (enteropathy).

Probiotics and Prebiotics Influence Neuropsychological
Conditions - 6 Surprising Facts About Microbes In Your Gut
Karen Foster - Researchers have long suggested a link between
the gut-brain axis and neuropsychiatric disorders such as
autism, depression, and eating disorders. Using probiotics and
prebiotics to alter the gut microbiota and influence the
gut-brain axis may open up new ways of influencing
neuropsychological conditions, says a new review. The majority
of the science for probiotics has focused on gut health, but as
the understanding of the gut and the microbiome increases,
probiotics are increasing linked to a range of beneficial
effects, from weight management to immune support and allergy
response, and from oral health to cholesterol reduction.
Related: How to pick an effective probiotic supplement

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